


Infected

by N4rciss1st



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Non-Graphic Violence, Post-Apocalypse, Protective Kara Danvers, Scientist Lena Luthor, Slow-ish burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:22:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22316272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N4rciss1st/pseuds/N4rciss1st
Summary: The creatures that were once somebody’s friends or family roamed the deserted and destroyed streets of National City at night. It had been about three months since the outbreak began. Within four days it had spread nationally and then internationally within seven. There was no telling how many survivors there were, in National City Kara was sure they’re small pack seemed to be the only survivors.ORA post-apocalyptic world where Kara is a badass explorer and Lena is a misunderstood scientist trying to save the world from the very thing she created.***temporary hiatus***
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 50
Kudos: 162





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> Thanks for clicking. Updates may be sporadic as I’m a busy person and sometimes I forget to write stuff! 
> 
> I hope you like it!

It was always Kara. She griped to herself as she made her way through the abandoned streets. She drew the short straw again. That system seemed rigged, she griped some more. The straws were also imaginary, it was more like the last person to touch their nose like some sort of childhood fight to see which sibling got to sit in the front passenger seat. Kara was never quick enough when the need for someone to head out to get provisions. It was always Kara.

‘It’s because you’re light on your feet.’ Is always Alex’s response. Kara felt right about letting Alex take leadership of their small community. Since the outbreak happened and people got sick and began dying...and coming back to life in the most terrifying way, Alex took charge and appointed everyone according to their skills. Kara’s strength and light-footedness made her the pack mule or in this case, the scout. 

The creatures that were once somebody’s friends or family roamed the deserted and destroyed streets of National City at night. It had been about three months since the outbreak began. Within four days it had spread nationally and then internationally within seven. There was no telling how many survivors there were, in National City Kara was sure they’re small pack seemed to be the only survivors. 

Luckily for them, the infected were nocturnal in a way. They seem to sleep in the day, once the sun peeks over the horizon any Infected seem to just collapse and are unconscious for any amount of time that sunshine touches them. Kara had seen it first hand when she was sent out on her first scouting mission. The safest place to walk is in the middle of the street or where there is full sun. The sewers are a no go zone, the smarter ones conglomerate there. It’s almost as if they’ve learnt to tell time and know when it’s time to retreat once dawn starts to break. Nightfall is chaos. Alex had given strict instructions that no one was to be outside of the DEO walls half an hour before sundown. If you are, you’re on your own. 

Trying to keep eight people fed and happy when access to food and enrichment was sparse was a difficult feat. Alex tried her best but a lot of the time it was out of her control. People got grumpy and they liked to point fingers for something to do. Of course, people were scared. Kara was scared and Alex, even though stoic and brave as she is, Kara knew she was scared too. 

Kara’s time spent out of the DEO was purely reconnaissance. Food, supplies, water. Those were her main objectives and each day she would pick a new direction and only go to places she had yet to explore. Armed with only a small backpack, a DEO issued knife that was longer than her forearm and her wit. She would be out at sun up and back before sundown. 

Kara found a building she had yet to explore, it was always nerve-wracking entering unexplored territory. The Infected hid in dark corners, under furniture and anywhere the sun can’t reach them. She yanked the knife from her boot and walked gingerly inside. Her eyes darting to each corner of the room, leaving no stone unturned. The room was mostly empty, a few long sofas piled up by the door, most likely a failed attempt at blocking the door. A reception desk with some broken electronics and shattered glass scattered about the floor. 

A debris littered hallway leads to a stairwell which had its door ripped from its hinges, hanging haphazardly to the side slightly blocking the entrance. Kara crawled beneath it, keeping her eye out for any sudden movements around her. The grip on her knife tightened as her palm began to sweat making it a little harder to hold. She took each step with measure, slowly but surely making her way up to the first level. From the outside, it looked to be about forty floors and Kara was certain she wouldn’t be able to clear it in one day. 

The door on the first level was almost the same as the other, broken in half and jagged this time she climbed over it into another dusty and debris ridden hallway. There were desks and chairs and old computers piled up in random spots around the large room, glass walls shattered and there was still electricity, thanks to the solar panels on top of a lot of the buildings in National City. 

It was so quiet to Kara’s relief. Silence meant no Infected. She didn’t linger long, a quick trip around the room and she found nothing but old dusty office furniture and empty water coolers. She made her way back to the stairwell and up another flight. The door was intact this time but slightly ajar. This floor seemed relatively untouched. Desk draws were open and ransacked but nothing was turned or broken, no piles were made and no broken glass. 

She felt confident in her assumption that there weren’t any Infected in the rest of the building. It didn’t seem logical by the state of this floor compared the two below. She kept her knife out regardless. There was a larger room toward the corner of the room, sunlight streamed through the dirty windows lighting it up. There was a tall comfortable looking chair tucked in behind the desk and a bookcase spanning the length of the room behind it. Kara ran her eyes across the spines of the books, there were all of a scientific nature. Biology, medicine and anatomy mostly. She took a couple of smaller, not so heavy ones and tucked them into her backpack. She thought Alex might like those. 

The next floor was even more pristine than the last. It was as if whoever pillaged the floor below gave up. Ten or so desks in neat rows in the middle of the room, surrounded by glass walls of offices that lined the room. Large windows spanned the outer wall. Kara looked out of a fairly clean window into the window of the adjacent building. There was movement, obvious that there were Infected living in the building over. 

Kara was afraid, not of the infected themselves but of becoming infected. She would hate to put Alex through that. They had already had the difficult conversation, that if either of them should become infected that they would pull the trigger so to speak. The only way to kill the Infected was to sever the spinal cord. It was brutal but it was the only way, unfortunately, Kara had figured that out first hand. 

Kara cared about all of her friends, the people she knew before and the people they had given sanctuary to after establishing a base in the DEO headquarters, but Alex was her first and only priority when it came down to it. They had no family left, Alex was all she had. She was so proud of Alex, it made her heart soar. The way that she took charge so easily but never let it get to her head. She treated everyone equally and made sure to play to their strengths, she could see it was hard for Alex to let Kara leave home base every day but she knew it was necessary for their survival. 

The next few floors were much the same, not touched, intact and clean for the most part. It was eerily quiet, it irked her but she knew it was a good sign. She would dig around in draws, take anything that she thought worth taking. Lighters, paper, pens, books and Knick-knacks (for decoration purposes). 

The next floor felt different, if she was correct in her counting she was on the eighth floor. It was still silent but there was an air to the room that felt different from the others. It was clean, the lights were on and it wasn’t an office. It seemed to be kind of like a recreation room or like some sort of staff room. There were sofas lined up against the windowed wall, empty vending machines with the glass panel missing, a kitchenette with two sinks and some empty trash cans lined up against the wall. Three refrigerators against the opposite wall, right next to a door that seemed to lead to a hallway. 

As Kara approached the fridges she heard the low hum of them, telling her that they were working. Her heart leapt at the possibility of food. She was sure they would be empty, considering the vending machines but a girl could hope. She reached for the door of the first one, a clicked that sounded scarily like a gun cocking was heard from behind her. 

“Stop or I swear to God, I’ll shoot.” Kara stopped immediately at the voice. She raised her hands and slowly began to turn around. A woman to her left, holding a small revolver pointed at her with a scared look at her face. 

“Don’t shoot. I’m sorry, I didn’t know there was anyone here. I promise.” Kara said, her heart racing. Was there another colony here? How didn’t they know this? 

“How did you get into this building? How did you get passed my cameras?” Kara gave the woman a confused look, she didn’t see any cameras on her way up. 

“Uh through the front door and up the stairwell.” Kara sighed in relief as the woman lowered her weapon. 

“I...I didn’t know...I thought I was the only one...” the woman seemed a little out of sorts and Kara wasn’t sure what to do. 

“You’re here alone?” The woman nodded and her hand shook as she slipped the gun onto the counter. Kara could see that the dark-haired woman was distraught, as much as she was herself. J’onn had said that he and Brainy had been through almost the entire city and there were no signs of uninfected life. 

“Yes. I...are you- are you alone?” Kara watched as the woman took a step back and a whole range of emotions washed over her face. 

“Right now, yes, but there’s a bunch of us back at the DEO headquarters. Do you know where that is?” Kara took a better look at her now. She was skinny, obviously malnourished and pale. She was pretty though, despite the circumstances. Her clothes looked fresh, black slacks and a blue button-down shirt, a white lab coat over top. 

“There’s more?” The woman shook her head in disbelief, as if she was angry, not at Kara but at herself. 

“There’s seven of us. There was twelve of us, to begin with, but unfortunately...they didn’t make it. Uh, I’m-I’m Kara.” The woman finally looked into Kara’s eyes, the brunette looked as if she was going to cry. 

“I should have kept looking. I shouldn’t have given up...how did I miss it?!” The woman seemed more distraught now and panicky, Kara stepped toward her but stopped when the brunette sat on one of the sofas with her head in her hands. 

“Hey. It’s alright, I’ve found you now. It’s going to be okay. What’s your name?” 

“Lena.” She sniffled and Kara frowned when she saw a couple of tears fall to the floor. She knelt down in front of the woman, trying to get her attention. 

“Lena, it’s going to be okay. You’re not alone now. Come back with me and we’ll get you settled in.” Lena shook her head.

“No, I can’t leave. I have to fix this, I can fix this.” Kara frowned, confused. 

“What do you mean fix this? This is the apocalypse, how is one woman going to fix that?” The woman stood up and Kara followed her out through the door into the hallway, it was bright and there was only one other door at the end of it. “Where are you going?” The door opened and the two stepped into a room. It was a lab, there were machines and tubes and pipes and bubbles. Vials and bottles scattered all around the room, there were no windows and there was a large tank filled with a purple liquid that lined the back wall. “Woah.” 

“I’m going to fix it because I was the one who created it.”


	2. Chapter 2

“What are you talking about?” Kara asked. She was trying to understand but it had been a pretty intense few minutes between having a gun pointed at her and finding out there is another survivor. Lena sighed as is if was irritating her to have to explain.

“The virus. It was me. It wasn’t intentional, I promise.” Kara shook her head and walked further into the lab and looked down at her watch. She was running out of time, there was only just over two hours until she had to be back at base. 

“Just-Just rewind, please. Start from the beginning.” The brunette seemed a little frantic for a moment, obviously not used to having someone in her space. She kept her eyes on Kara and it made the blonde feel a bit like a criminal. 

“We were trying to cure cancer and we had some promising breakthroughs, the animal tests were doing wonders. Tumours were shrinking, blood cell counts were high, symptoms were almost non-existent. It was years of work finally paying off.” Lena moved around the other side of the table to an old, worn looking microscope. There were stacks and stacks of slides neatly lined up next to it with sticky notes attached to the top of each pile with dates written on them. “The first human trial seemed to be a success but we couldn’t be sure so we ran three more tests.” Lena placed a slide under the lens and beckoned Kara to take a look. “The first three subjects showed the same signs that the rats did, their tumours were shrinking and they’re symptoms all disappeared. It was a medical miracle. Something that seemed light-years away was at our fingertips.” Kara looked down into the microscope, she wasn’t a scientist, far from it. When she looked at the slide all she saw were some red squiggly lines. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what I’m supposed to be seeing.” Lena shook her head and replaced the slide with another. 

“A patient from our first trial came back to us after three weeks saying that he had been feeling increasingly sick since the day of his injection.” Kara looked back into the microscope at the slide, what she was was similar to the one before but this time there were some black dots that looked like they were vibrating mixed in with the red squiggly lines. “We took some blood and ran some tests. His body was rejecting the treatment and we didn’t know why. He died.” Lena pulled the slide out and replaced it with another. This one was completely different, there were no red squiggly lines now, they were replaced by large black vibrating dots and lines. They were multiplying and fast. 

“Thirteen hours later, the patient woke up and went on a rampage through the labs on the top floor. He had bitten eighteen of my lab techs and four of the cleaning staff. We were able to subdue him but we couldn’t figure out why.” Lena sat on the stool next to her and looked up at Kara who watched her expectantly. Kara figured she knew where this was going but she wanted to hear it. “That’s when the news reports began. The forty-eight human trial patients that had been injected with this serum had turned savage along with eighteen of my lab techs and those four janitors, like those stupid zombie movies. Running wild in the streets, biting people and terrorising neighbourhoods. It was like a wildfire, L-Corp shut down, everyone I knew turned into mindless monsters and now here we are. I did this and now I have to fix it.” 

“Well, I’m not leaving you here. We can pack up as much of this as we can carry, we only have a little bit of sunlight left. We’ll come back for the rest tomorrow.” Kara began to shove tubes and vials into her bag. She was worried that they wouldn’t make it back before the sun went down. 

“Stop! What are you doing, you’ll break those!” Lena tried to swat Kara’s hands away. “I can’t just leave!” 

“Look, my sister is a scientist too. Brainy has the highest IQ in the northern hemisphere, they can help you but we have to go. Now.” Lena stared at Kara for a moment, calculating and turning over her options. 

“How do I know I can trust you?” Lena asked warily. 

“You don’t and I can’t promise you anything but at least you won’t be alone.” 

“And we can come back for the rest of my stuff?” Kara nodded and picked up another piece of equipment, lifting her eyebrow in question. Hoping Lena was about to agree to go with her. She thought about Alex for a moment, she wondered if Alex would be okay with this but then she pushed that thought aside. Honestly, she didn’t care, she wasn’t just going to leave this woman here alone. She clearly hadn’t eaten anything substantial in weeks and Kara just had this overwhelming urge to take care of this woman for some reason. Alex be damned. 

“I promise. We can come back tomorrow and take as much as possible.” Lena looked at Kara and then looked around the lab before sighing and nodded. 

“Okay but just let me get some of my things first.” Kara tried hard to hide her relief and nodded. 

“Of course.” Kara followed Lena through another door behind them and into a much smaller room. This is where Lena had been living. A couch with folded up surgical sheets used as a pillow and a lab coat for a blanket. There was a table in the corner with a neat stack of opened soup cans and then a stack of unopened.

After Lena had filled a bag with some of her things, mostly clothes and a very thick file with papers sticking out of it here and there. They made their way down to the street. Kara could feel the nervous energy radiating from Lena as they approached the door that leads to the street. She didn’t acknowledge it, she didn’t know Lena enough to properly comfort her. 

Kara stepped into the street first, it was a little darker than when she first arrived but there was still at least another hour of sunlight. Lena followed her every step. 

“You spend a lot of time out here?” Lena asked as they walked down the middle of the road, making sure to stay in complete sunlight. 

“Almost every day. We’re supposed to take it in turns but everyone else must be too scared or something.” Kara wasn’t sure when the need to impress Lena came on. She pulled her knife from her boot and tightened the straps on her backpack. “I’m usually the one to volunteer because I’ve had the most experience with the Infected.” Lena followed close by as they walked quietly through the street. Sounds from the sewers could be heard from the street. Growls and howls came from beneath them, like hungry dogs. 

“What kind of experience?” Lena asked. 

“I’m military trained, my job before was to escort research scientist or archeological groups to remote and dangerous locations around the world and basically babysit them while they did their thing. My sister is the director of the DEO and the leader of our community. She volunteered me for reconnaissance because I was the most suited for it.” Kara turned to look at Lena a little before looking back toward the street. The sounds beneath them got a little louder, there were unconscious bodies of the infected everywhere just waiting for the sun to go down to rise again. It was as if they were dead. To the eye they looked like regular humans, the only difference being their blood-red eyes and the sudden onset of a full mouth of sharp, shark-like teeth. Kara checked her watch again. 

“The first day of the outbreak I was just arriving back from a job, the airport was packed and it was pandemonium. People running and yelling, I had no idea what was happening because I had just been on a plane for fourteen hours. I called Alex and she told me to get to the DEO as soon as I could. There were no taxis, no busses. I walked from National City airport to the middle of the city, through packs of infected.” Kara explained like it was no big deal. 

“You didn’t get bitten?” Kara shook her head. 

“No, I fought them off. There was no other way.” Lena looked at her dumbfounded. “I figured out that the only way to kill them is decapitation. It was difficult at first because they look just like you or me but if it’s me or them, I’m choosing me.” Kara shrugged, in the beginning, she struggled. Although military-trained she had never been to war, she never had to kill anyone before and she never thought she’d have to. After realising that the infected are already dead, it became a little easier to do what had to be done. 

“That’s kind of incredible, Kara.” That was the first time Lena had said her name. Kara smiled to herself but kept her pace. They came to the corner of the block that the DEO was on and Kara stopped, turning to Lena and gave her and grim smile. 

“Listen, my sister can be a little stand-offish at first and I’m not really sure how she’s going to feel about the whole situation but I’ll have your back.” Lena just cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows. 

“You don’t even know me.” Kara frowned and without thought she put her hand on Lena’s forearm. 

“No, but I know what it feels like to think that you’re completely alone.” Lena looked down at Kara’s hand and then up to her eyes. 

“Okay.” 

Kara lifted a hatch that was behind the smaller building next to the DEO. Lena looked sceptical as she was ushered down into the tight space but she went, followed by Kara. They walked along a dark tunnel for about five minutes before they came upon a light that highlighted the door before them. Kara knocked in a musical sequence and then a series of clicks of locks unlocking and latches being unhooked, the door swung open. 

“Kara!” A young-looking man said excitedly, pulling her in for a hug. “Alex wasn’t expecting you out for that long, she got a little worried. It’s so weird not having cell phones anymore.” The man said before his eyes finally land on Lena. 

“Um Winn, this is Lena.” The man smiled politely at Kara and tugged her by her arm slightly to the side of the weird narrow hallway. 

“Alex is not going to like this,” Winn whispered harshly, trying not to be rude. Kara rolled her eyes. 

“I’ll handle Alex.” Kara smiled back at Lena. “Lena, this is my buddy, Winn. He’s our friend and tech expert, he’s in charge of our security and cameras and junk.” 

“Junk?!” Winn piped up, hurt. “Maybe it’s junk to you, miss muscle but every scrap of metal or plastic could be potentially very useful.” Winn continued to talk animatedly as they walked further down the hallway, it became increasingly brighter as they went along. 

“Don’t mind Winn, he’s a bit sensitive sometimes.” Lena just nodded obviously feeling a little awkward. They stopped at a large red door, there was a keypad next to the handle but Winn pulled out a key from his pocket and pressed it into the old keyhole. 

“Unfortunately, all of the old security systems are out of order until I can find an alternate way to run the power from the solar panels to the locking mechanisms on the doors.” Lena just smiled politely and followed them through the door. There was a set of stairs and then another, they then stepped out onto a platform connected to a bunch of thick wires. Kara grabbed the remote and pressed the red button with a big arrow on it and the platform began to move. 

“This is the only way into the DEO base other than the front door which has been completely blocked off for obvious reasons,” Kara explains. They come to a stop on a large, clean but somewhat intimidating room. There are large broken monitors on the wall surrounding a circular table. “Alex!” 

“Kara!” Kara tried to stall before Alex noticed their guest. The two women hugged, Alex looked over at Lena. 

“You found a person?” Alex asked. 

“Yes, look I know it’s dangerous but she’s a scientist. She’s looking for a cure.” Alex kept her eye on Lena, Kara watched as Alex took her in. “I’ll explain everything soon but look, I don’t think she’s eaten in a long time and she looks like she could use some real rest. Give her a break for a couple of days, let her settle in.” Alex finally looked back to Kara and took a deep steadying breath. Kara knew why her sister was so sceptical of strangers. The third week of the outbreak, James and Brainy had let a stranger into the base in the middle of the night, it turned out that the man had been bitten by the Infected just hours before and then proceeded to kill the last two of their DEO soldiers. 

“Okay, but she stays with you. She’s your responsibility if she turns you deal with it.” Alex looks to Lena and steps forward. “Welcome to the DEO, I’m director Alex Danvers. Get settled in, any questions ask Kara.” Alex walked away and Kara grimaced. 

“Sorry, she’s a little wary of strangers,” Kara said, ushering Lena toward a set of stairs. 

“I don’t blame her.” Kara led Lena down a short hallway passed a few glass-walled rooms that looked like old medical bays and into a large room that was completely empty except for a rubber-like mat that took up most of the room and then finally through another door into a much smaller room. It was neat. Folded up clothes piled on the floor, a mirror that was broken but still usable, a table and two beds at opposite sides of the room. 

“Uh, I usually sleep on this side but if you prefer to be closer to the window I don’t mind moving,” Kara said to be accommodating, although she loved being near the window. 

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just take that one.” Kara could see that Lena felt a little out of place. She understood it’s hard being the new person in any situation. 

Kara sat on her bed and waited for Lena to settle in, she grabbed an old magazine from the pile next to her bed and flipped through it, all the while watching Lena from her peripheral vision. Lena took off her lab coat and hung it on the back of the door, she tugged on her shirt nervously as she looked around and then opened her bag before closing it again and then turning toward Kara. Kara looked up from her magazine and put it down when she noticed Lena looking a little awkward.

“So we have three bathrooms, they’re semi-communal I guess. There’s one kitchen but the food is rationed and I’m sure Alex is updating it now that we have a ninth. I’ll introduce you to everyone else tonight at dinner but if you wanted to freshen up, I can show you to the bathroom.” Lena agreed to freshen up and Kara went over to the makeshift dresser by the door and pulled out a white towel. “Here this is yours, everything is hand washed nowadays but I promise it’s clean.” Lena took it with a polite smile. 

“Thanks.” Kara spent the next hour with Lena, showing her around the base and making sure she knew where everything was. She showed her to the bathroom closest to their now shared living quarters and went to find Alex. 

“Hey.” She said warily as she walked into Alex’s room. Alex turned around from her desk and half-frowned at Kara. “Look, I know but she was completely alone, and there’s something else...” 

“That doesn’t sound good, Kara. Don’t tell me she’s bitten or something.” Alex leaned back against her desk and folded her arms, pure business. Kara hated it when she was like this and it seemed nowadays she was always like this. 

“No, no nothing like that. It’s just that uh, she may have been...the one who...” 

“Spit it out, Kara.” Kara took a nervous breath and swallowed hard. 

“She was the scientist who caused the outbreak.” She said it so fast that she wasn’t even sure she said it in English but there was no doubt that Alex heard her. 

“Excuse me? She did what now?” 

“Look, she explained it all to me when I found her and it wasn’t intentional, they were trying to cure cancer and it kind of went wrong, I don’t know the exact details but she needs you and Brainy to help fix it. She’s tired and I don’t think she’s eaten in weeks.” Alex looked like she wanted to argue, she opened her mouth once and then twice before sighing and standing up straight. 

“Maybe she can look at Kelly?” Kara nodded. Not touching the fact that Alex barely reacted to what she said. 

“I think that would be a really good idea.” 

Kara entered her room after speaking to Alex and Lena was sitting on her bed flipping through the thick file she had put in her bag. 

“Hey, there’s something we would like you to look at if you’re feeling up to it?” Lena stood up and tucked the file under her arm. 

“Me?” She questioned 

“You’re medically trained, right? You’re a doctor?” 

“I’m a research scientist, I have a PhD but I’m not the kind of doctor you might think I am.” Kara shook her head.

“But if you saw a person with, let’s say a bite from an Infected and they had no symptoms, you’d be able to figure out why right?” Lena frowned in confusion. 

“You know someone who’s survived a bite?” Kara nodded and opened the door again and gestures toward the rest of the facility. 

“You wanna meet her?” 

They made it up to the confinement bays and Alex was already there. She came over to the woman and Kara was happy that Alex didn’t act hostile toward Lena, considering what she had told her. Lena seemed more nervous now. 

“Did Kara fill you in?” Alex asked 

“Just the cliff notes.” Kara gestured toward the bay and Lena looked inside. There was a woman sitting on the bench inside, her arm wrapped in gauze and she looked scared, her eyes never left Alex until Lena stepped closer, the woman’s face turned to confusion. 

“Alex, who is that?” Kelly asked

“This is Lena, she might be able to figure out what’s going on.” Lena looked at Alex and then to Kelly. Kara put her arm on Lena’s shoulder.

“Hey, look, no pressure. Alex has been at it for weeks and nothing.” 

“How long has it been since the bite?” Lena gestured for Kelly to approach the glass. 

“About five weeks now,” Kelly replied and Lena tried to hold back a gasp. 

“Five weeks? And you haven’t had any symptoms? Headaches?” 

“No.”

“Vomiting? Can you unwrap your arm for me, please?” 

“No.” Kelly pulled the gauze and bandage off of her arm and there wasn’t much left of the bite, a few shallow holes and some scarring. 

“Any uncontrollable hunger?” Kelly shook her head. 

“No. Just the usual.” Lena frowned and ran her hand through her hair in thought. 

“Could you show me your teeth, please?” Kelly looked at Alex and Kara and then back to Lena warily before opening her mouth. 

“I don’t think you need to keep her quarantined.” Lena stepped back from the glass and looked at Kelly. 

“Are you sure? What if-“ 

“If she was going to turn, she would have in the first 15 hours after being bitten. Kelly, you seem to be immune.” Kelly looked like she was going to pass out, it was just seconds before Alex unlocked the door and pulled Kelly into her arms in a relieved hug. 

“Oh, Kelly is my sister's fiancé.” Lena just nodded and smiled. “So you’re sure she’s not going to suddenly go psycho on us all?” 

“I’m like 99 per cent sure,” Lena said confidently. “There wasn’t a single case of the infected that I know of that didn’t turn in the first 15 hours of injection or bite. I would really like to do some tests with Kelly’s blood though, once I get my equipment.” Kara nodded.

“I’m sure she would be fine with that, she’s a very helpful person. She got bitten because of me.” Kara let the guilt rush back to her for a moment before swallowing it. “We went together to retrieve some things from her apartment, obviously Alex wouldn’t let her go alone so I accompanied her.” Kara leaned against the glass and watched as her sister kissed and hugged Kelly. “There was an Infected camping out in her bathroom. I was in the kitchen collecting canned goods when I heard her scream, she ran toward me and when I tried to step in front of her to protect her, she pushed me out of the way.” 

“That was very brave on her part, and yours,” Lena said looking at Kara, sincerity in her eyes. “Maybe if it was you who got bit, I’d still be alone in my office wasting away and going insane.” Kara wasn’t sure how to take that compliment, it made her stomach roil to think that Lena had been trapped there for three months with no one to talk to and thinking she was the only one left. 

“You’re incredibly brave yourself, Lena.” 

Once Kelly had been settled back into freedom they all gathered in the dining area. It wasn’t much, a repurposed meeting room with a fridge and an almost empty butane camping stove for cooking. Lena felt awkward and stood behind Kara as she greeted the rest of their small community. 

“Guys, this is Lena.” Kara gestured to Lena and everyone greeted her in unison. “Lena, this is James, Nia, you know Winn, Brainy and J’onn.” Lena smiled at them all and gave them a polite wave. The one that Kara pointed at and called Nia cake up to Lena first. 

“Yay, another girl. We’re beating the guys now! I’m Nia, resident cook and fortune teller. I’m better at one than the other, you’ll find out which in about ten minutes. Nice to meet you.” The tall girl laughed and walked away after squeezing Lena’s shoulder. 

“I figured we didn’t really need a psychic to survive and unfortunately, I only had one job left,” Alex said as she came up beside Lena. Lena chuckled and looked around the room, Kara was talking to James and laughing with him. 

“Well, I’m sure she’s not as bad as you say.” Alex laughed 

“Oh, you’ll take that back soon enough. Come on, grubs up.” Lena followed Alex to the table and took a seat between her and Kara. Bowls were passed across the table and Lena looked at its contents. It honestly looked better then what she had been eating back in her office but the smell wasn’t pleasant at all. It was hot and a greenish, yellow colour. 

“This is an old favourite of yours, Winn. A mix of Thai curry and fish soup.” Nia explained as she held the opened cans up in tandem to show everyone. “Oh, Lena! You don’t have any allergies do you?” 

“I think I’m good, as long as there aren’t any bees in there.” Everyone chuckled at that. 

“Nope! All good for bees, that was tomorrow’s dinner.” Kara smiled down at Lena and then around the room at her friends. It was going way better then she hoped.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a little action in it, it’s the first time I’ve written action scenes before so they might be pretty terrible! Sorry in advance. Enjoy.

The sun had officially set and the terrifying sounds from the street were in full swing. It was the same every night, blood-curdling growls of hunger were heard through the night, the sounds of scratching and clawing at walls and doors. The Infected would sometimes rip apart and eat each other in fits of unbearable hunger. It made the nights longer for any human survivors. It was nightmare-inducing. The DEO facility was relatively soundproof but the closer to street level you were, the more you could hear. 

Kara freshened up after dinner, leaving Lena to get to know the rest of the crew. When she arrived back at her room, she had almost forgotten that she now had a permanent guest. Lena gave her a faint smile as she entered but immediately went back to her task. Kara hung up her towel and sat on the edge of her own bed. 

“What are you doing there?” She asked hesitantly. 

“I’m writing a list for you. Of the things you’ll need to retrieve from my office tomorrow.” Lena didn’t look up from her paper, Kara frowned in confusion. 

“You’re not coming?” Lena looked up slowly as if it was the strangest question. Kara sounds almost disappointed.

“Oh uh, no. Alex said it would be best if I stayed and run some tests with Kelly’s blood. Besides, I’m not particularly fond of the outdoors, not anymore.” Lena folded the paper and stood to pass it to Kara. Kara took it and opened it. 

“How am I supposed to know what any of this is? What’s a pipette?” Kara asked a little frustrated as she read the list. 

“I took a look at the medical bays you have here and there’s a lot of useful equipment but if I’m going to be of any use here I’ll need those things on the list.” Lena sat back in her bed and Kara continued to read. 

“Are you sure I’ll be able to find all of this?” Lena nodded. 

“You remember the room we went into where I slept?” Kara tucked the paper into the front of her pack. “There’s a small bookshelf behind the door, in there will be a thick book with a yellow spine. It will have diagrams of all of the things on that list.” 

“Thick book, yellow spine?” Lena confirmed with a nod and settled down onto her bed. Kara chewed at her fingernail and then did the same. The sounds grew louder as if they were right beneath them. Lena sighed. 

“Is it like this every night?” 

“Yeah. You get used to it. You didn’t hear it from your building?” 

“Not this loud,” There was silence for a while and Kara flicked off the battery operated lamp. After about ten minutes Kara heard the rustling of covers and a deep sigh from Lena’s side of the room. “Thank you.” Lena’s voice came, soft and shy through the darkness. 

“What for?” She asked even though she was pretty sure she knew. 

“For not walking away today. For not letting my stubbornness doom me to a life of solitude and eventual insanity. Being completely alone can do strange things to the mind.” Lena said melancholically. 

“Trust me, I know.” Kara wasn’t sure if she was prepared to share just how she knew, but something about Lena made Kara feel like she could trust her. 

“How could you know?” Kara was silent for maybe a moment too long when she heard Lena’s soft voice again. “It’s alright, you don’t have to tell me. Goodnight, Kara.” 

“Goodnight, Lena. Oh, and you’re welcome.” 

When Kara woke, the sun was just coming up, she liked to rise early so that she didn’t waste any sunlight. The first thing she noticed was that Lena’s bed was empty, she quickly changed and brushed her teeth. 

She ventured down to the dining room and kitchen but there were no signs of anyone, as she walked closer toward the Med bays she could here a feminine chuckle and smiled when she figured it was Lena’s, she turned the corner and stopped when through the glass she saw Lena talking with James. He was smiling at her and leaning against the old gurney with his hand on her shoulder. 

Kara wasn’t prepared for the feeling that bubbled inside her for some reason. She felt angry, her face was hot and her stomach twisted. She stamped it down inside herself and entered the room. 

“Hey, you two. Good morning.” 

“Oh hey, Kara. I was just thanking Lena for helping Kelly out last night.” Kara smiled politely at James and then looked to Lena. 

“Yeah. She must be so happy to be out of quarantine, why don’t you go spend some time with her and I’ll help Lena get all set up here?” James gave Kara a strange look before he smiled at Lena. 

“Okay, sure...” James hesitated, looking at Lena. “I’ll see you around.” He said as he made his way to the door. Lena raised her eyebrow at Kara in question and Kara chose to ignore it. She wasn’t sure why she wanted James to leave, she wasn’t sure why it made her skin crawl to see him talking to Lena. 

“Are you okay?” Lena asked once James was out of earshot. Kara nodded and looked around the med bay anxiously. 

“Yeah, totally. Great. Um so, you’re up early.” She said fiddling with the plastic sheet over the top of the gurney between them. 

“I couldn’t sleep, I just figured my time was better spent making myself useful than wasting away in bed.” Kara watched Lena move about the room, it had already changed so much. Before the room was kind of a shambles, medical equipment was strewn about haphazardly and it definitely wasn’t sanitary, dust and debris from months of disuse covered the floor and surfaces but now it almost had a shine to it. Trays of equipment lined up neatly along the bench against the wall and the medicine cabinet had been hooked back up to the generator and working again. 

“This place looks great.” Lena nodded and smiled, she turned and fiddled with a few things in the trays. 

“Thanks, it took me most of the morning but James was kind enough to move some of the bigger equipment around for me.” Kara felt that twinge in her stomach again. She berated herself, James had every right to talk to Lena, why was she so upset by hearing his name on Lena’s tongue. 

“Yeah, that was really nice of him.” Kara nodded uncomfortably and cleared her throat a little. “I’m going to get some breakfast and then head out to get your stuff.” 

“Have a great day,” Lena said distractedly and Kara felt dejected, Lena had barely looked at her. She back out of the room slowly and frowned. 

“Yeah...you too.”

Kara spun her knife in her hand as she moved along the street silently. It was eerily quiet and there seemed to be more unconscious Infected than usual. Before yesterday, before meeting Lena, Kara would always take it upon herself to sever the spinal cords of a few Infected as she passed, taking the opportunity whilst they couldn’t fight back. Now that she knew there could be a chance to save them, to correct them, it didn’t seem right to take their lives unnecessarily when they could possibly return to them. 

Lena’s building wasn’t that far and she made it without incident. When she entered the building through the broken door she stopped immediately when she saw movement in the corner by the elevators. She looked behind her and then around the rest of the room without moving and then took a tentative step toward the movement. She knew she was alone the entire time so it wasn’t likely she forgot someone, she’s sure Lena would have mentioned a companion. The only explanation was an Infected in hiding, who must have ventured in at sunrise. Kara swallowed her nerves, to get up to Lena’s floor she had to take the stairs, the stairwell was opposite the elevators. She had to pass the Infected to get to them. 

Kara tightened her grip on her knife and walked carefully toward the stairwell, as she passed a pile of furniture she saw the Infected just standing in the middle of the space between the elevators and the stairs. It was staring straight at her, his eyes were almost glowing and its teeth were bared. Kara didn’t have time to think as it leapt toward her with a growl; she ducked out of its way and then ran toward the entrance, hoping that it was hungry enough to peruse her into the sunlight but it wasn’t the case. The infected stopped just before the rays hit it and it continued to stare Kara down. It was a smart one, kara thought, she had to move at some point, there was no other way out of this. She could fight and kill this one or wait here until sundown and fight her way back to the DEO and risk being bitten or eaten alive. 

Kara took a deep breath and charged the Infected, it was drooling and growling like a wild animal as she got closer to it, its eyes red and wild with hunger. It ran toward her as well, Kara dropped to the ground when she got close enough and ripped her knife across its legs, it let out a blood-curdling sound as it too dropped to the floor. She had killed so many Infected now that the sight of the black sludge that oozed from them, instead of blood, didn’t affect her now. She stood up and drew her knife up high and finally plunging it into its neck, making sure to go as deep as she could to ensure the spinal cord was cut. The sounds it was making stopped after a moment, and black goo escaped from its mouth and its eyes fell shut. 

Kara exhaled the breath she held and sighed in relief. She knew it was necessary but killing it made her feel like she was taking a human life now. It weighed on her more than she knew it should. Her hands were black and dripping and some of it had managed its way onto her face. 

She made it up to Lena’s level in just a few minutes without any more interruptions. She found the bookshelf Lena had told her about, she looked for the yellow spine on the book she needed. Pulling it off the shelf and turning it to the front, she read the cover. 

‘Science for dummies’ Kara rolled her eyes but chuckled to herself. She sat on the couch and pulled out her list, she scanned the book index and found the pages for each item she needed and then followed the hall down to the lab where Lena told her it would be. 

The door was already open and the lights were still on, there was a hum from some of the electrical equipment. It looked like the lab her father used to work in. She took the book and the list and placed it on a table along with her open pack, her knife and the extra bag she brought. She opened draws and cabinets, pulling out everything she recognised from the pictures. Filling her pack quickly. 

It didn’t take long before her bag was full and she was sure she had everything on the list. She double and triple checked, she nodded to herself and readied herself for the trip back to the DEO. The bags were heavy as she started back down the stairs, it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle but it definitely would slow her down. 

Once back at ground level, Kara found herself thinking about Lena. She had known her for almost 24 hours and already she knew she had a crush. Kara shook her head to herself, she knew it was ridiculous, she knew that the chances of Lena feeling the same way was slim to none, or the chances of Lena even liking girls wasn’t likely, but there was a chance. 

The trip back to the DEO was slow, the weight from the bags and the fact that Kara was distracted by her thoughts of Lena. After a moment she realised that she had left her knife back at Lena’s office, on the table inside the lab. She cursed herself for being so careless, what if she got attacked? She had no way to defend herself. She still had a fair way to go and it wasn’t going to be quick. She thought about turning back to retrieve the knife but she was already more than halfway home. 

She checked her watch and decided it was too risky to go back, she knew she would just have to be super vigilant and stick to the sunlight. She tried to move a little quicker toward home, she supported the bags on her back and began walking as fast as the weight could let her. After about a half an hour she made it to the alleyway in which the hatch to the DEO basement was. 

The problem with the alley was that there was little to no sunlight in the afternoon; unlike the morning because the sun was facing the alley so any infected that had fallen unconscious at sunrise would rise again when the afternoon sun had disappeared over the buildings, dousing the alley in shadows. It wasn’t very often that she found Infected there when returning for the day but it also did happen from time to time but she always had her weapon. This time she didn’t and of course, there was two Infected dawdling around in the alley, right next to the hatch. 

She would be lying if she said she didn’t panic a little. She looked around to figure out her options but the only way back into the DEO was through that hatch. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t fought off Infected with her bare hands before but it sure was easier and less risky with a knife. Alex preferred guns but Kara was better with knives, always was. Her military training aided in her ability to fight, she was just never taught how to fight bloodthirsty human-turned-monsters. 

She gritted her teeth and prepared herself for a fight. They hadn’t noticed her yet, thankfully. She crept slowly passed the old dumpsters and dropped down behind them. She knew that their teeth could pierce through her shirt. It nether the less, she rolled the sleeves of her shirt down and tucked her thumbs through the holes she had made in the cuffs. 

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she closed her eyes to steel herself. She jumped from behind her dumpster swiftly, darting to the other side of the alley. The two Infected immediately turned toward her and began drooling, one of them charged toward her. A rush of adrenaline washed over Kara, allowing her to grab the Infected by the waist to lift it and throw it toward the brick wall opposite her. It writhed on the floor and the black goo started to pour from its head; it wasn’t dead but it gave her time to deal with the other. 

The other one didn’t seem as smart as the first, it was walking toward her but slowly, it had tripped a few times on some debris in front of it, it seemed hungry but not ravenous. Kara waited, keeping an eye on both of them. She looked to the ground beneath her and found a long enough piece of wood from an old pallet, it had two large rusty nails poking out of one end. She smiled to herself just as she noticed how close the other Infected was to her. 

The hatch was only a few feet away from her, she thought if she was quick enough she could hit the Infected with the wood and send it far enough to give her time to drop down into the hatch and lock it. That was the plan anyway. She was able to circle the Infected still fumbling toward her and open the left hatch door, that’s when the Infected tripped on another piece of wood and fell toward Kara; its hands wrapped themselves around her left leg making her fall slightly backward half into the hatch. She kicked her legs as hard as she could, searing pain shot through her leg and the Infected leg go. She fell through the hatch and landed hard on the ground in the dark hall. She scrambled up the short ladder and pulled the hatch closed and locked it. 

She made her way down the hall, to the door, she used the keys that Winn had given her to unlock each latch. Her leg burned and she could hardly bear the pain. She found the platform and the remote and began her ascent to the main part of the building. As she got higher and higher she started to feel light-headed, her vision blurred and she had trouble standing. The platform came to a stop in the middle of the room, she limped a few paces and stopped. The first thing she saw was Alex, Kelly and Lena talking at the top of the stairs, they all turned to her. She looked directly to Lena and smiled. 

“I got your stuff.” She barely got out before her vision went black and she fell to the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Lena’s POV

It had been about six hours since Kara had emerged on the platform, dripping with her own blood. Alex had called for help and James and J’onn who were nearby rushed over and carried her into the medical bay. Lena felt the pressure instantly when everyone looked at her. She had medical training, but she was not a doctor. She did figure that right now, she was the best they had. 

Lena made sure that Kara’s heart was still beating and thankfully, it was. When Lena turned around she found that the room was full, Alex, James, J’onn, Kelly, Nia, Winn and Brainy were all standing by the glass wall, watching. 

“Everyone out! Give me some space, please.” Lena commanded, she felt strange doing it. She didn’t really know these people and she was sure she wasn’t trusted, not yet and maybe not ever. She wasn’t sure how much Alex or Kara had told the rest of the crew, but she figured they deserved to know and if they were aware that she was the one to cause all of this, if she was in their shoes, she wouldn’t be so hasty to trust. 

To her surprise, everyone except Alex left the room. Alex’s expression was heartbreaking, her eyes brimmed with tears. Lena swallowed the lump in her throat and turned back to assessing Kara. Through the hole in her shirt, Lena could see a very large bruise covering Kara’s side, there was a fair amount of Infected blood on her hands, arms and a little bit on her face. Her clothes were dirty and covered in dust. 

Her jeans had been ripped open and her own blood covering the left leg. When J’onn and James had put Kara on the table the first thing Lena did was cover her leg to help stop the bleeding. The white towel she had used was now full of blood.

After cleaning up Kara’s leg, she could finally see that she had been bitten. She didn’t tell Alex right away, her stomach dropped and she took a deep breath before taking a closer look. The wounds were jagged, the teeth marks were stretched as if Kara pulled her leg from the mouth of the Infected that bit her. It looked bad. 

“She was bitten,” Lena said softly, not turning to Alex but she felt her move beside her hurriedly. Lena watched as Alex looked at the wound and finally her tears fell. 

“No. This can’t be happening, please no.” Lena wasn’t sure how to comfort Alex so she just put her hand on her forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I have to...I made a promise that if she got bit, that I would...I would...” Lena turned to Alex and frowned, figuring she knew what Alex meant. 

“There’s no need to make that decision right now, Alex. It’s still very fresh, you have time to spend with her. Let me finish cleaning her up and we’ll get her to quarantine.” Alex didn’t reply right away, she just stared at Lena. Lena nodded in encouragement and Alex crossed the room to sit in a chair by the corner, with her head in her hands. 

Lena spent time bandaging Kara’s leg, she used all the gauze she could find and some water to clean off all the blood she could see. Lena decided to use some of Kara’s blood to use for her research, hoping it would aid her in finding out why Kelly is immune. She drew a full syringe of Kara’s blood, she used a fresh slide and placed a drop of the blood on it and put it beneath the microscope. 

Lena frowned in confusion as she studied Kara’s blood. It had been over an hour since Kara had been bitten and there was no change to her blood, which Lena knew was not right. The change was always immediate, the healthy cells react to the chemicals from the original drug instantly, Kara’s blood cells should be turning black and multiplying as she watched but they weren’t. They were healthy, they were red and alive. 

Lena rushed over to Kara’s bags that had been left by the door. She dug around and finally found what she was looking for, a red and white box, she opened it up and pulled out a sachet. Alex perked up at her movement but Lena didn’t acknowledge it at first. Lena picked up the slide with the blood she took from Kelly earlier and replaced with Kara’s in the microscope. They were the same. 

“What’s going on?” Alex asked, Lena looked back but didn’t answer. She pulled two small cards from the sachets and placed one each next to the samples of blood. One for Kelly and one for Kara. 

“Go and find Kelly, please.” Lena used the syringe of Kara’s blood and placed one drop on the card next to her blood sample. She then used the pipette to extract a drop of Kelly’s blood from a vial that she had taken earlier and put it on the card next to her sample. Alex left the room quickly, looking very confused. 

Lena paced as she waited for the sample to develop. Alex came back in with Kelly in tow, waiting expectantly for Lena to explain. Lena picked up Kelly’s blood sample card first and then Kara’s. She looked back to the two women. 

“Think I know why you’re immune.” Kelly stepped even closer and looked at the card, Lena turned to both Alex and Kelly. “You have the rarest blood type, AB negative. The components of the drug I produced will not interact with the lymphocytes in your blood because the antibodies it produces are too strong, making you immune to the effects of it. Which is good for you, and for Kara because she also is AB negative.” Lena held up the other card, showing them both the results. Alex exhaled like she had been holding her breath for hours. She rubbed at her eyes in disbelief and hugged Kelly. 

“So Kara’s going to be okay? Like Kelly?” Lena nodded and gave her a comforting smile. 

“I believe so. I would really like to test everyone's blood, just in the unlikely event that someone else may be immune. It would be really good to have some sort of medical background on everyone here anyway.” Alex agreed. Kelly left to help Alex round everyone up, meanwhile, Lena watched over Kara as she slept. 

Kara slept for a long time, Lena had finished taking blood from all of the residents of the DEO, including herself. She already knew her blood type but if everyone else was to have a record, she figured she should too. She analysed all of the samples and found that Kelly and Kara were the only people who were immune. It made Lena feel better that there would be other humans out there that were immune to her drug. It made her sick to know that this was her fault and she was going to stop at nothing to fix it. 

Alex brought Lena dinner, she had totally forgotten to eat and she was thankful to Alex for reminding her. 

“Thank you.” She said as Alex placed the bowl in front of Lena. She had been working under the microscope for hours. Alex looked at all the notes Lena had taken. 

“You’ve already found out why Kelly and Kara are immune. Why are you still here?” Lena stopped and looked at Alex. She sighed and replaced the slide on the microscope with a new one. 

“I’m not going to be done until I fix the mess I made. I have to figure out a way to reverse this.” 

“Lena, no one blames you. No one is looking for you to fix this, it isn’t your responsibility.” Lena looked at Alex for a moment. She felt emotion well inside of her, Alex barely knew her, yet she was treating her like a friend. Lena cleared her throat and turned back to her work. 

“I have to do this for me. I can’t live with myself if I don’t at least try.” Alex didn’t say anything else, she just moved toward Kara and kissed her forehead. 

“Let me know if anything changes,” Alex said softly before leaving. Lena sighed and turned to lean against the bench. She watched Kara for a while and finished her food. She thought back to the day before when she found Kara snooping in her kitchen. Lena was terrified, her only thought being an Infected had made its way upstairs. She hadn’t had contact with any Infected since day one, luckily; but she was completely alone for three months, it made her mind do funny things like recalling her most repressed memories or making her hallucinate that her brother was reading her bedtime stories like she was still four years old.

Seeing Kara was terrifying but also, it was the most relieving moment of her life. She couldn’t fathom being as brave as Kara is, going out there every day, moving through the city like she was just out to do a little shopping, like those monsters Lena created, weren’t going to try and rip her to shreds at every chance. Kara was her hero, not that she would ever tell her that. A strong voice startled Lena from her thoughts. 

“Hey, just checking up on Kara,” James said, his voice unconvincing as he faked being concerned. He walked slowly into the room, barely acknowledging Kara’s form. Lena smiled politely at him and moved over to where he was standing in front of Kara. 

“She’s doing fine. She should wake in the next day or so.” James nodded but Lena realised that his eyes were trained on Lena. 

“Good. That’s good. So uh, you’re staying in Kara’s room?” James asked, he already knew the answer. Lena frowned in confusion as she went back to her microscope.

“I am. I guess it’s our room, not just hers,” She said nonchalantly, predicting where this was going. Lena was used to the male gaze, she was used to it but that didn’t make it any less uncomfortable. 

“Well, if you don’t want to be alone tonight, there’s a spare bed in my room.” Lena kept a straight face even though she was cringing internally, James was a nice guy it seemed and maybe he wasn’t being intentionally creepy. She wondered if he’d tried it with all of the women here, except for Kelly of course. 

“Thank you for the offer but I’m good where I am.” James looked down at Kara by his side and clicked his tongue and shook his head. 

“She was always such a show-off, no wonder she got herself hurt.” James’ jealousy was clear now. He’s a fit man, with muscles that would probably come in handy out in the street, there was room to wonder why he wasn’t given the same position as Kara but considering the entitled attitude that Lena has gotten from him since their first interaction, maybe it was best to keep him humble. 

“I think she’s very brave.” James scoffed and left the room without a word. Lena wasn’t sure where the protectiveness over Kara came from but it made her blood boil to hear James talk about her that way. 

She spent the rest of the night in the lab. After Alex came to check on them again at around midnight, Lena decided to take a little break from her research. There was only so much she could do without her books and other research from her lab. She would have to start again. She sat down in the chair besides where Kara was laying, she checked Kara’s vitals and pulled a random book from the shelf behind her, settling in the chair to read. 

Lena felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly. Lena opened her eyes, the room was bright and Alex was standing above her with a soft smile of her face. 

“Morning sleepyhead,” Alex said as Lena adjusted to the light.

“Morning. I must have fallen asleep.” Lena tried to move and felt a twinge in her neck. “It wasn’t intentional.” Just as Lena started to stand up, she noticed Kara’s fingers move slightly, Alex looked at Lena and smiled. 

“Kara?” A painful groan came from the blonde, her head lolled to the side and her face scrunched up in pain. 

“This bed sucks,” Kara said groggily and Alex chuckled. Kara kept her eyes closed, “can you turn off the lights?” Kara asked 

“It’s the sun, Kara.” 

“Oh.” Kara finally opened her eyes, she was still mostly dirty. Lena did her best to clean her up with damp gauze after cleaning out and bandaging her wound but it wasn’t enough. Kara looked around and slumped back into the bed. “How long have I got?” Kara obviously remembers that she had been bitten. 

“Probably sixty to seventy or so years, depending on how you look after yourself,” Lena said from behind Alex. Kara looked at her, there was something in her eyes that Lena couldn’t point out, their eyes connected for a moment before Lena looked away briefly, self-consciously. 

“What do you mean? I got bit.” Lena stepped forward to explain. Alex took Kara’s hand and squeezed it. 

“Your blood saved you. Like Kelly, you have a rare blood type which is immune to the drug I made.” Kara just blinked a few times, wrapping her head around what she had just heard. 

“Huh...well, what are the freaking chances?” Kara tried to sit up, Alex and Lena took an arm each and righted her on the edge of the gurney. She looked down at her leg that had been bandaged, and then winced when she straightened back up again. 

“Ouch.” Lena cringed and nodded. 

“You may have a broken rib, I don’t have an X-ray machine so, I can’t say for sure.” Kara nodded. 

“Well, it’s better than turning into a braindead, eating machine so I’ll take it.” Lena couldn’t help but laugh, Kara’s optimism was endearing even after being unconscious for over 24 hours. Her smile was warm and she seemed okay for the most part. 

“How are you feeling?” Alex asked, still holding onto her hand. Kara shrugged. 

“Like my calf muscle has been slice like prosciutto and my ribs snapped like a KitKat but other than that, dirty, smelly and gross.” Alex laughed, followed by Lena. 

“Leave it to you to be thinking about food after a trauma.” Alex rolled her eyes and smiled, she stepped in closer and gently wrapped her arms around the blonde's shoulder. “I’m so happy you’re okay.” Lena heard her whisper. It made her miss her brother briefly. “Wow, you really do stink,” Alex said, to lighten the moment and left the room. Lena figures she didn’t do heartfelt moments very well. 

“Hey doc, is it okay if I go shower?” Kara tried to slip herself off the gurney to stand. 

“I don’t see why not.” Just as Kara’s feet had touched the ground she lost her footing, Lena predicted that her leg was incredibly painful but Kara was too proud to say something. Lena steadied her by taking her arm, but it seemed as though she couldn’t put any pressure on her leg. 

“Thanks. Got any Advil?” Lena laughed slightly before shaking her head. 

“Afraid not, but I can help you to the bathroom if you’d like.” 

It took them almost a full twenty minutes to make it downstairs and into the closest bathroom. Lena had sat Kara down on a toilet seat as she ran to get her some fresh clothes and her towel. When she returned, Kara was unwrapping her leg from the bandage. 

“I brought a clean one,” Lena said, starting Kara from her thoughts. Lena places Kara’s folded up clothes on the vanity beside the row of showers and a fresh, rolled up bandage. 

“Okay. Um, I’m not sure if...how will I...uh...” Kara gestured to the shower and then to her very obviously temporarily incapable self. Lena’s eyebrows shot up at the realisation. 

“Oh. Right. Uhm, right.” Lena looked around and spotted two plastic chairs by the lockers. Kara watched as Lena picked one up and placed it down inside the shower, lining it up with the showerhead. Kara chuckled. 

“Smart. It’ll do. I can undress I think but I might need your help to get myself over there.” Kara was currently sitting inside of a toilet stall with one arm holding her ribs and her dirty bandage strewn on the floor. Lena took in the distance between the toilets and the showers, they made it all the way down her. A few more feet shouldn’t be too hard. 

“Sure.” Lena turned around and made herself busy, unfolding the towel and making a very good point of not looking into the mirror's reflection. She kept her head down and held the towel open against the sides of the stall and Kara wrapped herself slightly in the towel before holding onto Lena’s shoulder. Lena wrapped her arm around Kara’s towel-covered waist and slowly deposited her in the chair. 

“Take the towel,” Kara said after gingerly removing it from her body. As soon as Lena was out of the curtain, she heard the water begin to run. Lena folded and unfolded the towel twice then did the same to Kara’s clothes. She wondered why Lena was helping Kara instead of Alex although she really didn’t mind. It was just a tad too awkward considering only knowing each other two days. The sound of the water being turned off. Lena decided that Kara’s injury-induced dependence took precedence over modesty so when Kara called her softly from the other side of the curtain, Lena took the towel and without hesitation, she opened the curtain and wrapped Kara up. There were struggles to get her dressed and her leg rewrapped but finally, she was fully dressed. 

Lena could tell the pain was getting to Kara but she was still too much of a hero to speak up. Not the Lena could actually do much about it, she certainly didn’t have any pain relief in the med bay but she made a mental note to ask Alex, just in case there was a stash somewhere. 

It took them even longer to get to their shared room, Kara’s body was in a bad way and she hadn’t spoken much since her shower, only a few quips about her new bandage and a comment about Lena’s hair that made her blush and her stomach flip. It was no secret that Kara was attractive, with her broad shoulders, her golden hair and those blue eyes that made the ocean look shallow. Oh yes, she was quite aware of those abs and the strength in those quads, even when she did need help to walk. 

“Are you hungry?” Lena asked as she helped Kara lay down on her bed, pulling the pillow up behind her head. Kara thought for a moment. 

“I am but it hurts to breathe, so I’m not too sure how eating is going to go,” Kara admitted. It was a relief that Kara was owning up to her pain now, Lena felt partly responsible for what had happened to Kara. Maybe not her fault entirely but if she wasn’t so keen on having her stuff from the lab, kara maybe could have avoided being hurt altogether. 

“I’m going to go and see if there are painkillers anywhere in the building. If I can find them, we’ll get you fed.” Lena tried a reassuring smile but it wavered. Kara took Lena’s wrist and stopped Lena as she went to move. 

“This isn’t your fault.” Lena frowned and wondered how Kara could know what she was feeling. Their eyes held each other for a moment before Lena nodded, satiating Kara and letting her hand drop from her wrist.

“Get some rest. I’ll see about some pain relief.” 

Lena was able to find two packets of Advil in a first aid box hidden beneath the makeshift kitchen pantry in the meeting room. She hoped it would be enough, if Kara’s ribs really were broken, recovery could be months and two packets of Advil wouldn’t do it. 

When she arrived back at the room, Kara was asleep. Lena sighed and at down on her own bed, the sun shined through the small windows above Kara’s bed and onto the floor by her feet. She watched Kara sleep for a while and fought off the drowsiness of her own. 

Kara was a very impressive person. Brave and resilient, all the while being the literal embodiment of sunshine. Always a smile, always something positive to say. She was almost the exact opposite of herself. 

Lena was broody and introverted, before the outbreak she was probably a borderline alcoholic and spent almost no time smiling. She had no friends and her family had all but abandoned her after she decided to go into medical science and not the family business. 

Every relationship she had ever had failed within the first six months and the reasons we're all the same. She worked too much. Her work was always more important. She knew she was hard to love, but that’s who she was. Maybe meeting Kara was exactly what she needed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this went in a different direction then I initially intended but I think this was is better! Thank you all for reading and commenting, it keeps me motivated to continue this story!

It had been three days of laying around and Kara was restless. She was almost down an entire pack of Advil before Lena had confiscated them. Everyone had come by to see her, spent time with her and tried to keep her occupied. Talking with her and asking her all about what had happened. She was starting to get sick of the story. James had only come by once and Kara was pretty sure he only came under Alex’s order. The only person that hadn’t been by, except for at night to sleep, was Lena. 

The first day Lena had bought her food after she had woken up from sleeping most of the day, and then she didn’t see her again until the next night. Then the night after that, she woke to darkness and the sound of her painkillers being taken away. 

“What are you doing?” Kara asked groggily.

“Sorry, these are all we have. I know you’re in pain but we should probably conserve.” And that’s the last she heard from Lena in the last 24 hours. Kara wasn’t sure why she craved Lena’s attention. She was beautiful, that’s for sure, but Kara really didn’t know her. She admired her, she was so smart and helpful. Kara was almost so desperate to see Lena that at some point during the day she had tried to get herself up and out of bed, only to fail and cause herself more pain. 

Alex brought her a stack of old magazines with the crosswords still unfinished and some books she had found in storage the day after the outbreak happened. She had already gone through most of the pile of magazines. For someone so active, this was torture. 

It was nearing midnight when Lena came back to the room, the door opened softly and she snuck in as if she was expecting Kara to be asleep. 

“Oh, you’re awake.” She said as she took in Kara on the bed. Kara smiled at her, trying not to give away that she was fairly salty about the fact that Lena seems to have been avoiding her. 

“I practically slept all day, I’m not tired,” Kara said indifferently, flipping through another magazine pretending like having Lena there wasn’t making her heart leap in her chest. “You can turn the light off if you want.” Kara turned slightly and put her head back on the pillow. 

“Are you alright?” Lena asked after a while, the light was still on and Kara couldn’t hear any movement. 

“Why are you avoiding me?” There was another silence followed by the light being turned off. 

“I’m not. What makes you...”

“Sorry, it’s stupid. Forget I said anything.” Then the light came back on. 

“No, tell me. It’s not stupid.” Lena was standing next to her bed now, Kara tried to sit up. Her heart racing beneath her broken ribs and her head swimming trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for her neediness for someone she barely knows. 

“I just...everyone else came to see me.” Kara tried her hardest not to sound so pathetic. Lena’s face softened. 

“I’m sorry. I am just working, it takes a lot more of my time now that I don’t have all of my equipment and resources. I didn’t mean to make you feel like I was avoiding you...I didn’t think it was that important.” Kara just nodded, feeling sufficiently stupid. Of course, Lena wasn’t thinking of Kara, why would she? 

“It’s okay. I’m just not used to being on my own. Isolation is an...issue for me.” Lena looked curious but she didn’t ask. Kara’s childhood was hard to talk about, she didn’t even talk to Alex about it much.

“It’s alright. Uh, do you want to talk now? I never did get told the story of how you got bitten.” Lena sat on the end of Kara’s bed, Kara could see the weariness in her eyes but Kara selfishly wanted Lena to stay up. 

“I could tell it blindfolded by now.” Lena chuckled. 

“You know that doesn’t make sense right?” Kara smiled and laughter tiredly through her nose. 

“Shut up, you know what I mean.” They both smiled and Kara was silent for a moment before beginning her story. Kara watched as Lena listened intently at every turn of the story. “...and then that’s when I fell through the hatch. I don’t remember much after that.” 

“I could never have done that,” Lena said, fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt. Kara watched Lena’s face, her eyes were the most beautiful shade of green, like suns rays through the trees of a green forest. Her lips rose-tinted and worrying between her teeth. 

“You could have given up, Lena but you didn’t. You haven’t stopped and that’s so brave. Much braver than I have ever been.” Lena smiled as Kara but it faded quickly, feeling like she didn’t deserve the compliment. 

“I don’t feel brave. I feel terrified. I’m worried that I’m not going to be able to fix what I’ve done.” 

“No one is asking you to.” Lena shook her head. 

“You sound like your sister.” Kara rolled her eyes but smiled. 

“Well, she’s right. No one would blame you if you put that microscope away and you burnt all of those books and you spent the rest of your days helping J’onn with his garden.” Lena laughed incredulous toward herself.

“My thumb is the farthest thing from green. I think I’ll stick to science.” Kara just nodded, Lena yawned. 

“Suit yourself. Why don’t we get some sleep?” 

“I thought you weren’t tired?” Lena asked as she stood from Kara’s bed and made her way to her own. Kara pulled the covers over herself that she had kicked off earlier and shrugged. 

“I’m not but you are. Goodnight, Lena.” Lena smiled ask she tucked herself in and Kara flicked off the light. 

“Goodnight.” 

Kara’s leg felt better. It had been over a week since she had returned bitten. Her ribs were still tender but she was able to limp herself around and leave the room finally. She helped Nia in the kitchen and spent time with Winn as he tried to get the solar panels linked up to the door servos. She spent time with Alex and Kelly and most importantly, she spent time with Lena. She tried not to be in the way, so she would sit in the corner and read books. 

She was even more restless now that she was out of the room because her leg felt good enough she could run but she knew her ribs were going to take a long time to heal. Lena had given her painkillers back on rations they third day after taking them away, Kara pretended she didn’t need them. All Kara really wanted to do was hit the streets with her pack and explore. Instead, Alex had given the job to James. She remembers watching him getting ready to leave in the morning, his chest puffed out and his stance was over the top. 

She tried to like the guy, honestly. He was her cousins best friend, but they never really got along. Clark had always tried to include them both in stuff so they could get to know each other but when Clark died, they never spoke and when the outbreak happened, Kara and James just so happened to be in the same place at the same time and now Kara felt obligated to know him and like him. It was hard, especially seeing the way that he looks at Lena. 

It was just before sundown and Kara was still sitting in the lab reading while Lena worked. The silence was comfortable and easy. Lena would sigh a lot, sometimes she would put heavy books down on the counter with force when she was feeling particularly frustrated and all Kara wanted to do was hold her and tell her it would be okay. 

There was a knock on the door frame and James strolled inside. He was still wearing his pack, there was a shallow cut on his arm and he was sweating but he seemed distracted. He didn’t even notice Kara sitting in the corner. 

“Lena, hey.” Lena turned to the man and smiled politely. Her eyes flicked down to the cut on his arm and then quickly again over his body. There was a tear in the thigh of his jeans and there was blood, a lot of it. 

“James. You’re back.” Lena glanced over at Kara, getting her attention. Kara looked at the blood on James pants and the tears along the thigh, there were multiple of them and it looked a lot like a bite. Not wanting to spook the man, she laid low and waited to see if Lena would take the lead. Before Lena could say or do anything, James pulled something out of his pocket. It was shiny and silver and glistened in the leftover sunlight peeking in the window. A silver necklace dangled from his fingers, with a happy grin on his face. 

“Yeah, there was a few infected hanging out in the mall, I saw this on one of them and it’s beauty reminded me of you. I fought them for it.” Lena stuttered and before she could say anything Kara stood up and came closer. 

“James,” she noticed the veins on his forehead had become quite prominent and sweat was pouring down his face. You could quite literally see his pulse pumping in his neck. James turned and when he saw Kara he whines like a hurt puppy and then his eyes turned dark and he looked back to Lena. 

“What does she have that I don’t, huh?” He said angrily, throwing the necklace to the side. 

“What are you-“ James turned to Kara, and pointed at her harshly, getting up in her face. 

“You always get everything, Kara. You get the glory and the girls, you’re revered as some hero but you’re pathetic. You had all that military training but you couldn’t even save Clark!” James’ eyes had turned bloodshot, his face curled in anger and mouth twitched as he waited for her to do something. Kara couldn’t help the emotion that had bubbles up at his words. She knew his distance from her the last few months had something to do with Clark, he blamed her for his death. Kara was struck still at the memory.

“James, you’re bitten. You need to calm down and we’ll take you up to quarantine.” Lena said from behind him. That only seemed to make him angrier, he turned quickly and darted out of the med bay. Lena rushed after him, Kara snapped out of her emotions for a moment and followed. 

“Lena, no, I’ll watch him. You go and find Alex and J’onn.” Lena just nodded and took off down the hall toward the stairs. Kara followed James toward the staircase that led up to the roof. Before James got to the door he stopped when Kara called his name. 

“Jimmy!” He turned harshly and glared at her. 

“Don’t call me that! Only people who don’t kill my best friend can call me Jimmy.” Alex, Lena and J’onn rush up the stairs behind them, Kara and James locked in a staring match. 

“I didn’t kill him, James. I had no control over what happened!” Kara said, trying to keep her voice calm. 

“Hey, James. Why don’t you come with me to the quarantine bays and we can talk there. I’ll sit with you if you’d like.” Lena’s soft voice rang passed them. James looked passed Kara to Lena and then back, smugly to Kara.

“Sure, that would be nice.” Kara watched as James top lip curled slightly, his teeth looked different. The change was happening faster than she had seen before. James pushes passed Kara roughly and joined Lena to head down the stairs again. 

“I’ll come with you.” Lena looked at Kara with worried eyes. 

“No, I don’t want her anywhere near me.” He said to Lena. Lena shook her head and continued forward with James. 

“Go with them Alex, please. I don’t trust him. Somethings wrong, he’s turning faster. I don’t think we have time to waste.” Alex nodded and worried her lip. 

“Take J’onn down to the armoury, take anything you can find and meet us in the quarantine bay. Don’t tell Kelly.” Kara and J’onn waste no time. 

“What makes you think he’s turning faster?” J’onn asks as they rush through the halls. 

“He had only just gotten back, he came straight into the lab where I was with Lena, his jeans were soaked in fresh blood but his eyes were already bloodshot red, just now when we were on the stairs, I noticed his teeth had almost already changed. Usually, the teeth don’t develop until the very last hour or so before turning fully.” J’onn opened the door to the armoury and they began collecting what they were comfortable using. Kara hopes they wouldn’t need much, the thought of killing someone irked her. Her cousins best friend at that. She knew it was the right thing to do, for the safety of everyone else. If Lena ever did find a cure, James would never have a chance to rejoin his old life. Kara’s heart broke, no matter how much she disliked the guy, he didn’t deserve to die, especially not like this. 

Kara took a knife that was exactly like the one she had left behind at Lena’s office. She twirled it in her hand with skill, trying not to disturb her ribs. Adrenaline pumped through her body helping to relieve the pain in her side. She nodded at J’onn when he asked if she was ready. 

They made it up to quarantine and when they entered, Lena and Alex were in the cell and James was pacing the room. He had locked them inside and was acting like they were prey. He spun around when he heard the door. Something was very very different about him now, he wasn’t like the other Infected. It was as if he had fully turned but his brain and consciousness were still James, maybe just a little angrier. 

“James, what are you doing?” James snarled in anger at J’onn and charged him, picking him up with his hands and tossing the older man to the other side of the room. 

“J’onn!” Kara called in a panic. “James, please. Just talk to me.” 

“Talk to you? About what? About how you’ve taken everything from me? You took my job, my best friend and then somehow you’ve got Lena to fall for your fake heroics! You took my sister and made her fall for yours!” Kara frowned and shook her head. 

“James, that was Kelly’s choice. They met at Clark’s birthday party, you know that. Lena is a grown woman, she can make her own choices. As for Clark, I already told you what happened, what you choose to believe is up to you.” Kara tried to reason with him, but as time went on he became less and less cooperative. Kara watched on as long claws began to grow from his fingertips, something that was not common of other Infected. 

James saw red and his veins bulged from his skin everywhere Kara could see. This was bad. He stared her down and they began to circle each other. Kara could hear Alex and Lena begging for James to listen to them, to calm down and for Kara to run. Kara had experience fighting Infected but this was different, James was bigger than her by a landslide and probably a lot stronger. He was a great fighter, military-trained just like her. 

After a few tense moments, James seemed to get fed up. He lunged across the room at her and she dodged just in time, sidestepping quickly to avoid him. He stumbled but was almost on her again in seconds. Kara dropped suddenly and swiped her leg out to the side taking the back of James’ knees with her. He fell to the floor and she was able to climb on top of him quickly, she swung up her knife and as she brought it down his big hand grabbed her ribs and squeezed them. Pain ripped through her side and she felt light-headed, the room spun and all she could hear was ringing and then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger 😬😬


	6. Chapter 6

Kara could feel her heartbeat, slow and steady. She could smell something sweet, like the freshly baked blueberry muffins Eliza used to make on Sunday mornings with the blueberries from their bush in the yard. She felt cool air on her skin like she was standing at the edge of the ocean and the sea spray gently covering her in a fine mist. It was so calming. She couldn’t help the peaceful and happy feeling that took over her. 

Then something felt wrong. Really, really wrong. All of a sudden she felt her heartbeat pick up, faster than it ever should be and she was wet. Almost sticky. There was something lumpy beneath her. 

“Kara!” She knew she was hearing her name but she felt so tired, so tired that opening her eyes felt like an impossible task. A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and then everything came rushing back. 

James. James was infected and she was...trying to kill him...

Kara’s eyes popped open and just in time. She had tried to sink her knife into his neck before she passed out but she missed, hitting the side of it but only cutting him. His black, sticky blood was all around them. Kara could hear Lena and Alex shouting her name, asking her to be okay, to pay attention. The pain in her side was almost unbearable and she had only one opportunity to end this. She took a firmer hold of her knife again and raised it up once more, her hands shook and her eyes felt heavy, full of sadness for the man she couldn’t spare. 

She hesitated. Something flew by her face and then all the noise and voices stopped. Kara looked up to find J’onn standing by her, his hand attached to a knife that was embedded in James’ neck. Kara looked around and her eyes met Lena’s before the room went black once more. 

‘This is familiar,’ Kara thought as she opened her eyes. Once again she was in the med bay. 

“We have to stop meeting like this.” She heard Lena’s voice and turned her head on the uncomfortable pillow to see her. She was smiling at Kara like she was relieved. 

“Totally,” Kara said dreamily, she could barely feel her body and she wondered how long had she been there. “How long?” 

“Three hours.” 

“Oh. Alex?” Lena took the seat by the bed. 

“She went to tell Kelly.” Both the women frowned, Kara felt responsible for a part of this and she made a note to speak with Kelly once she had some rest. She must be heartbroken. 

“J’onn?” 

“Is fine, but resting. Nia is watching him, he hurt his leg when James threw him to the wall.” Kara grimaced and turned a little, ignoring the pain in her ribs. 

“Does everyone else know?” Lena nodded

“I told Winn and Brainy once you were settled here. Winn took it pretty hard, he seemed pretty close with James.” 

“Yeah, they were best friends. They had an imaginary baseball team and everything.” Kara said groggily, finding it hard to stay awake. 

“Why don’t you get some more sleep and when you wake up, I’ll have Nia bring you something to eat.” Kara just nodded and fell back to sleep. 

When she woke up, Nia was sitting beside her. A fresh bowl of something hot on her lap. Nia smiled at her and silently offered her some soup.

“Hey, Nia.” Kara knew that Nia was very good friends with James, although the guy was a jerk sometimes, when he was a good guy, he was easy to get on with...for the rest of the crew anyway. Nia and James both had a passion for photography and journalism. Nia studied investigative journalism and James studied Photography. They were sort of a platonic match made in heaven. 

“I’m really glad you’re okay,” Nia said softly as Kara sat up a little and took the bowl from Nia. Kara smiled sadly at the younger woman. 

“I’m sorry, Nia. I really wish none of that had to happen. He was a great guy...” 

“It’s okay, Kara. You have nothing to apologise for. You didn’t kill James, and neither did J’onn. You both did what you had to do.” Kara thought for a moment and took a spoonful of soup. 

“You’re getting better at picking soup combos.” Nia smiled and giggled. 

“Thanks, I can really only work with what I’ve got. It takes all day to make these decisions though.” The girls chatted quietly as Kara ate, it was late and Kara was still very tired. 

“Hey, why don’t you go down to James’ room and take his camera, I don’t think he would have anyone else take it. Kelly can have everything else.” 

“I’ll talk to Kelly first, I know that camera was their dads.” Kara nodded and handed the empty bowl back to Nia. As Nia began to leave the room she turned back to Kara and smiled. 

“I know you and James didn’t always see eye to eye and he had some misunderstandings about what happened with your cousin but I think in his own weird way, he looked up to you.” Kara wasn’t so sure about that, but she just smiled and Nia left. Kara wondered where Lena was, she hadn’t seen her since before she went back to sleep earlier. She wondered if Lena and Alex had seen the difference in James compared to the other Infected. 

Lena did return just before midnight, Kara had been dozing on and off for the past hour or so and was hoping that Lena gave her to all clear to sleep in her own bed. Kara smiled at Lena when she walked in, she was wearing different clothes to what she was wearing earlier in the day. She was wearing one of Kara’s shirts. 

“That’s my shirt.” Was all Kara could think to say, she wasn’t expecting the feeling she got when she saw her. 

“Oh, yeah sorry. I can change, it’s just I forgot to wash my stuff yesterday and-“ 

“It’s okay. I was just pointing it out. It looks good.” They stared at each other for a moment and Kara thought she saw the pink rise to Lena’s cheeks. “Hey, listen, about James. Maybe it’s too soon to bring it up but Uhm, did you notice something different in him?” 

“You noticed it, too? He started turning so much quicker and I’d never seen fingernails like that on an Infected before.” Lena sat down and pondered. Kara noticed a stack of microscope slides piled up next to the microscope. 

“Did you look at his blood?” 

“Yeah, it seemed to be multiplying faster, but nothing else differed. His human blood sample, however, was different from what a normal A positive blood cell should look like. It moved faster and the cells were much further apart.” Kara frowned along with Lena in thought.

“What does that mean?” Lena looked a little distraught. 

“I have no idea.” 

After declaring Kara okay to move, the two women made the long and painful trek to their shared room. Stairs were the worst but they made it eventually, Lena helped Kara to bed and practically tucked her in. After a silence took over the room, there was the sound of tossing and turning, Kara waited but it never stopped. 

“I can hear you thinking from here.” She said into the darkness. 

“What James said today...the stuff about your cousin and his job, what was that?” Kara knew it was going to come up at some point, she figured there was no time like the present, regardless of how tired she felt. 

“I met James five years ago when I started with the army. James was my commanding officer, we actually got along, when I went home for holidays or we had allocated time off, I would come back to National City and so would James. I live with Clark, my cousin so James would come over to hang out and they became really close friends.” Lena remained silent, Kara heard her roll over to face her. 

“Clark was an archeological journalist, he worked with a research group that studied ancient civilisations. I wasn’t enjoying being in the army and so when Clark told me there was a job on offer for essentially a bodyguard, I got really excited. It was a chance for me to spend more time with my cousin, to travel and experience new things, I jumped at the chance and applied immediately.” 

“What I didn’t know was that James also applied for the job, he didn’t tell me. He didn’t even tell Clark. There was only one position available and I got it. Once I found out that James had applied too I felt really bad but he told me it was okay and that it was good for me, he really took it like a champ.” 

“On one of the last jobs I went on, Clark and his group were researching an ancient city in the jungles of Peru. It was very dangerous, venomous animals, mountain trails with loose rocks. It was treacherous but we made the to the site without so much as a scratch.”

“We were there for three days, Clark had decided that he wanted to get up earlier that day and go into the site to take a look around by himself. They had uncovered a lot in the short time we were there, Stone structures and there were even still some tools embedded in stone that had been there for probably thousands of years. I woke up that morning to the sounds of screams, it was only 6 am, I put my boots on as fast as I could and ran down to the site from camp.” 

“Clark had been crushed by a fallen stone pillar. He was still alive when I got there...” Kara couldn’t help the tears that fell, it took a lot to make her cry. She prides herself on her ability to keep her cool. But Clark was the only blood family she had left, and she did hold some guilt for Clark’s death. Kara felt her bed shift and a warm hand in hers. 

“It’s okay. You don’t have to continue if it’s too hard.” Kara shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. I can finish.” Lena’s hand never left Kara’s so she continued. “There was no telling the damage that had been done, he was bleeding and he kept saying his back hurt.” Kara hiccoughed and swiped at her eyes with her other hand, she was thankful that it was pitch dark. “Some of the others and I managed to remove the pillar but the damage...Clark’s spine was broken, he died not long after moving the pillar.” 

“When I came home, obviously I was devastated. I did nothing but lay in bed for six weeks, I didn’t work and Alex spent a lot of time looking after me. I didn’t see James at all, I had texted him a few times over the weeks to see if he was okay, he never returned my phone calls. I asked Alex to find him, I just needed to make sure he was okay. He was my friend. He was Clark’s best friend. He blamed me. I was supposed to be watching over him, I was supposed to save him.” 

“It wasn’t your fault, Kara,” Lena said gently squeezing Kara’s hand. Lena’s thumb stroked the back of Kara’s hand and she tried her hardest not to shiver at the soft touch. Her eyes were sore and she felt more tired now than she was earlier. 

“I know. He was all I had left of my family.” 

“What about Alex?” Lena asked, obviously confused. She had forgotten that part. 

“The Danvers adopted me after my parents were killed. Clark was still in college and couldn’t take me in so my parents' friends Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers took me in. Alex is my sister, but not by blood.” Kara reached up and flicked the lamp on. When she looked at Lena she could see that her eyes were red and glossy. She looked like she had been crying. 

“I’m so sorry about you’re parents. Is it so insensitive to ask you what happened?” Kara just gave Lena a sad smile.

“It’s okay. We were victims of a home invasion m, they said that in a moment of panic the guy robbing us shoved me into the cupboard under the stairs and locked it, he then shot both my mom and dad.” Kara watched at Lena’s eyes filled with tears, daring to fall at any moment. “I was in there for two days before anyone found me and my parents. I knew they were dead but I kept calling for them...”

“Oh, Kara,” Lena said softly, her tears falling fat down her pale cheeks. Kara reached up to wipe them away. 

“It was a long time ago. I remember them and I have so many good memories and I have so many good memories with the Danvers now. I was never without love.” Lena nodded and gave her a sad smile, Kara wiped Lena’s tears again. Lena blushed and smiled, laughing at herself slightly. 

“I was adopted, too. When I was four.” Kara gave Lena a sad smile, Kara’s hand was still firmly in Lena’s and the other was stroking her cheek. She felt self-conscious for a moment, like the longer she stays like that the easier it would be to see her feelings for Lena. She pulled her hand away from Lena’s cheek and placed it in her lap, almost on top of where their hands were joined. “My mother died in an accident, though there was a lot of investigation and stipulation as to whether it really was or not. I was adopted by the Luthor’s immediately after.” Kara nodded in understanding.

“Do you remember much of your mother?” Kara asked, hoping it wasn’t a sore subject. 

“Just little bits and pieces. Like I know that she was Irish, she loved the summertime, she loved to swim and her favourite thing to bake was pumpkin scones.” 

“I love pumpkin scones,” Kara said softly, making Lena smile. Kara could feel Lena’s fingers beneath hers, they were warm and soft. Kara knew that there was something more in the smile, it made her heart race and her spine tingle. “Lena?” 

“Yeah?” 

“I uh, I know this may seem out of the blue and probably a really bad time and gosh, if I’m overstepping just tell me, you can absolutely say no, of course, I mean you’re your own woman, independent, strong and you probably don’t want-“ 

“Kara...” Lena squeezed Kara’s fingers and Kara stopped rambling, feeling exceptionally more nervous than she did twenty seconds ago. She swallowed her nerves and looked Lena in the eye, not disguising her blush. 

“Can I take you on a date?”


	7. Chapter 7

“You, you want to go on a date?” Lena asked in disbelief. She was smiling but Kara felt more and more insecure about it as the moment wore on. 

“Yes. It’s okay if you aren’t into it. I just assumed I’m sorry.” Kara pulled her hand away and adjusted herself in the bed, feeling more embarrassed than she ever had. 

“I am into it,” Lena said quickly, after noticing Kara’s discomfort. “I am. I do, want to go on a date that is.” Lena reached for Kara’s hand again and finally got Kara’s attention again. Her smile was bright even in the slight darkness of the room. Kara could feel Lena’s pulse thumping in her wrist where her fingers rested. 

“You do? I mean, great. Uhm, awesome. Cool.” Lena laughed and stood up from the side of the bed where she had been sitting. Her hand still firmly in Kara’s. She moved to go back to her own bed, her hand slipping reluctantly from Kara’s hand. Kara was still beaming and wasn’t doing anything to hide it, she wasn’t afraid to be excited. Honestly, she felt a little overwhelmed at knowing that Lena could possibly feel the same about her. 

“Goodnight, Kara,” Lena said softly as she got back into her own bed. 

“Night, Lena.” 

Lena wasn’t there when Kara woke up. Unusually, Lena’s bedding was rumpled and slept in but not made which was very unlike Lena. Kara frowned and slowly got herself out of bed. Her ribs protested mightily but she ignored them for the most part, giving her an actual excuse to go to the med bay, instead of the real reason of just wanting to see Lena. 

It took some time but she made it to the med bay at the same time as Alex. Alex seemed to be in a rush, she followed her in and noticed that Lena, Winn and Brainy were all there too. 

“What’s going on?” Kara asked, standing by the door holding her ribs. Everyone looked over at her, Lena rushed to her side and took her arm. Alex pulled over a chair and Lena helped Kara to settle into it. 

“You should be resting.” Lena scolded. 

“You usually make your bed. I got worried.” Lena tried to hide her smile at Kara’s concern for her. She cleared her throat and walked back over to the counter where everyone was looking down at something. Kara got impatient and stood up again. “What are you all looking at?” 

She barged between Lena and Brainy, there was a glass slide on the microscope but it was cracked and split open, black lines that looked like veins or the roots of a tree were spread out from the glass, down the side of the microscope and had latched themselves onto a slide with clean human blood. It looked as if it was alive and feeding on the blood. 

“Holy shit,” Alex said. Everyone looked at Lena as if she had the answer. 

“I-I don’t know.” 

“Whose blood is that?” Lena looked closer at the slide and sighed. 

“James,” Lena said. Kara was right, there was something different about James blood. A reason why he changed so quickly, so aggressively. 

“and whose blood is that?” Kara asked, pointing to the slide with the human blood. 

“Yours,” Lena said. Kara looked to her worriedly.

“Should we be worried? Is this thing going to take over the DEO?” 

“I don’t think so. We can kill it and on the bright side...” Lena went over to Kara’s backpack that was still sitting by the door of the med bay. She rummaged through it for a moment and pulled out a gas torch. “This just confirms the fact that Kara and Kelly are definitely immune if there was any doubt.” 

Lena lit the torch and everyone stepped back. Lena took the blue flame to the slide at the microscope, there was a hiss and a pop and as soon as the flame was removed, whatever it was shrivelled up and turned to ash. 

“Okay, good news or bad news?” Lena asked to no one in particular. 

“Start with the bad news so that the good news will soften the blow,” Brainy suggested, rubbing his chin in thought. 

“Well, the bad news is I think there’s been a mutation in the cells, it must work like the infection itself. It takes between 13 and 15 hours for the change to happen initially, there seems to be a second change in the infection that happens at a later stage.” Lena stopped and turned back to her work station. 

“Good news?” Winn asked 

“Good news is that fire seems to work pretty well as a solution, temporarily at least.” Kara sat back down in the chair by the counter. Alex paced a few steps and then looked to Lena. 

“Do you have any ideas for a cure yet?” Alex asked, standing by Kara looking far too stressed out for Kara’s liking, however, completely understandable. 

“I have a couple of ideas, no idea if they’ll work. I’ll need Winn and Brainy’s help and I’ll need Kelly and Kara.” Alex frowned in confusion. 

“Why do you need Kelly?” She asked, sounding a little sceptical. 

“I’ll need to use hers and Kara’s blood. Their blood is kind of our only hope, Alex. It’s the only way I’d be able to synthesise any kind of cure or treatment.” 

“She just lost her brother, I don’t know-“ 

“It’s okay, just use my blood,” Kara said over Alex, Lena looked at her in concern.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked, concerned for her sisters well being, of course. 

“Yeah, just until Kelly is ready and if she’s not, so be it. Use all you want.” Kara said, gesturing to the inside of her elbow. Lena nodded and looked between Alex and Kara, making sure everyone was on board. 

“What do you need my help with?” Winn said for behind her. Looking worried as he bounced anxiously on the balls of his feet. 

“Do we have any flare guns?” Lena asked Alex. 

“Yeah, we have a few. Maybe, 15 or 20.” 

“Great, Winn I need you to modify all the flare guns we have to where it will disperse a powder in a very large radius...maybe?” Lena said, looking sceptical about the task herself. Winn took a moment to think, he rubbed his forehead and then placed his hands on his hips. 

“Uh, maybe...I think it could be possible.” Before Lena could reply Winn had left the room in a hurry, talking to himself and scribbling something on the back of his hand. 

“And me?” Brainy asked 

“I need someone like-minded to bounce off, I’m sure Winn would appreciate that, as well. You’re our jack of all trades.” 

Lena wasn’t sure if her idea would even work. Even if it did they were under a timer and she wasn’t exactly sure when it was going to go off. There was no telling if they had hours, days or weeks to figure it out. She was scared and stressed, the pressure she felt was intense. 

Everyone but Lena and Kara had left the med bay. Kara was sitting in the chair by the bench and Lena was reading through her notes, she had killed the only sample of the mutated blood she had so testing anything wouldn’t be possible unless somehow they acquired another sample. She wasn’t going to risk anyone’s life doing that. 

“Are you okay?” She heard Kara ask from beside her. She had honestly forgotten that she was there, she was so caught up in her thoughts. 

“I’m alright. We may have to push our date back, I think I might be stuck in this room for quite some time.” Lena tried to joke, knowing that it wasn’t a joke at all. This was going to require 100 per cent of her attention until the job was done and if it didn’t get done then there would be a pretty high chance that they would die in the process of trying. Kara must have picked up on the faltering tone of Lena’s voice. 

“We are all here to help you, Lena. Most of us may not be able to help with science and medical stuff but there will always be support. You’re not doing this alone anymore.” Kara stood up and stepped closer to Lena, Lena felt her heartbeat begin to pick up. Kara’s closeness was affecting her more than she felt appropriate. “I’m here for you.” Kara's voice was low, it was soft and soothing and Lena could feel the meaning in it. “I can wait for our date. I don’t want to, but I will.” Lena laughed softly, turning to look at Kara. 

“Thank you.” She said softly, the space between the two women was minimal. So minimal that she could feel Kara’s breath on her cheek, it makes goosebumps rise on her arms. After a long moment, Kara sat back down and made herself comfortable. Lena prepared some equipment as Kara watched her. “Are you ready?” 

“How much are you going to take?” Kara asked, holding out her arm to confirm Lena’s question. 

“Just a little, I’ll need to do a few tests with a small sample before I get anywhere.” Kara nodded and turned her head as Lena pressed the needle into her arm. She was strong and tough but needles made her nervous. 

“You okay?” Lena asked when she noticed Kara’s anxiety. 

“I’m not so good with needles,” Lena smirked, she watched Kara’s face screw up in discomfort. Lena leaned in closer to Kara and gently pressed her lips to Kara’s cheek, dangerously close to the corner of the blonde's mouth. She hears Kara gasp and then groans when her ribs protested at the sudden movement of her diaphragm. Lena pulled away and removed the needle, pressing a cotton bud to Kara’s elbow. Kara’s face was so red and the smile on her face was radiant even as she tried to hide it. 

“All done,” Lena said, placing the needle and vial down on a small tray. 

“That’s it? I thought you would need more than that.” 

“Oh, I will. But there would be no point in taking all your blood right now when I’m only testing a theory.” Kara nodded in understanding. She sat there for a while after and watched Lena work. She was so graceful, Kara thought, her hands moved slowly but she was precise. Kara noticed that she often tucked her straight almost black hair behind her ear two or three times every few minutes. She chewed on her lip in concentration and pursed them in thought. Kara’s cheek still tingled where Lena’s lips had gently pressed into it. Her face flushed again at the memory. 

Kara decided to give Lena some space to work. She decided it was a good idea to find Kelly and talk to her about what happened. Kara felt the weight of guilt heavy on her heart. She blamed herself for what happened to James if she had been more careful and had not been bitten or fallen then he wouldn’t have had to leave the DEO that day and get bitten himself. Kara knocked on the door to Alex and Kelly’s room. The door was open and Kelly was sitting on an armchair in the corner, reading. 

“Kara,” Kelly said, surprised to see her. “What are you doing? Here come sit.” Kara shook her head, she felt that she didn’t deserve Kelly’s concern.

“No, I’m fine. Really, it doesn’t hurt that much.” Kara knew Kelly didn’t believe her, considering she was holding her side as she stepped tentatively into the spacious room. “I just came to see if you’re okay. I mean, obviously you’re not and I am so sorry, Kelly. I didn’t-“ Kara began to cry, her heart broke. Kelly came toward her and wrapped her arms gently around Kara careful not to hurt her ribs. 

“Shush. It’s okay,” Kelly rubbed her back and soothed the crying blonde. “I spoke to J’onn, I don’t blame either of you. I miss my brother. I’m devastated about what happened to him. But I don’t blame you, Kara. I don’t. Please believe me.” Kara wrapped her arms around Kelly in return as they cried together. 

“I should speak to J’onn,” Kara said as she pulled away and wiped her face of tears. “I know him, he’s taking it pretty badly isn’t he?” Kara asked Kelly. Kelly nodded and frowned.

“He believes he killed James, I tried to explain to him to no one blames him and that what happened wasn’t anyone’s fault. Tragic, devastating, of course, but it’s was no one's fault.” Tears still bled from Kelly’s eyes as she spoke about what happened to her brother. “J’onn had to do what he did for the safety of everyone else. That thing wasn’t James. That wasn’t my brother.” Kara nodded. She pulled Kara in for another brief hug. 

J’onn’s room was on the top level of the facility, close by to his rooftop garden and the best views of the city, however desolate now, it’s was still beautiful. As Kara climbed the stairs, the sadness she felt for J’onn was deafening, her legs felt heavy and her ribs ached. His door was slightly ajar and she wondered if he was in there at all. 

“J’onn?” She called softly, wrapping on the door with her knuckles gently. The door opened a little more and she saw J’onn sitting at a small table in the corner, his chin resting on his palm and his eyes focused on nothing in particular. She called his name again and he seemed to snap out of his trance.

“Kara.” He stood quickly and softened in her gaze. He cleared his through and waited. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t come to see you sooner. My ribs...” J’onn came close to her and shook his head. Taking the hand that Kara wasn’t holding her side with. 

“No, no. I’m just glad you’re alright. Truly.” J’onn was like a father to everyone at the DEO. His opinions and thoughts were so highly regarded and Alex always took to him for advice on the daily running of their tiny community. Kara squeezes his hand and he leads her over to his small bed for her to sit and rest. “You shouldn’t have climbed all those stairs, Kara.” 

“I’m fine. I was just worried about you.” J’onn huffed a small dismissing laugh and turned away from her to find his jug of water, pouring her a cup. 

“J’onn, don’t do that. You’re allowed to have feelings about this, you’re allowed to be sad.” Kara tried to get up again when J’onn didn’t turn around. She hissed in pain slightly and he rushed to her side, pushing her shoulder for her to sit down again. He looked at her and cupped her chin. 

“I know Kara, I know. James was...he was like a son to me. You are all so special to me. What I did, what I had to do, it wasn’t easy for me to make that decision but I didn’t have the luxury of time to make it. I have come to terms with it, it doesn’t make me miss him any less, it doesn’t make it easier. I am allowing myself to grieve. Kelly and I grieved together but it’s still heavy in my heart.” Kara nodded. 

“I just wanted to let you know that, we are all here for you. Just like you’re always there for us. You know that right?” J’onn smiled, it was like a breath of air for Kara. Like a promise that he was going to be okay. 

“I know that.” Kara stood this time, with J’onn’s help. She wrapped her arms around the older man and hugged him tightly, not bothering to care about the pain in her side.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry about the late update. University is back so I’m working and studying full time again. It doesn’t leave much time to writing. Anyway, this chapter is short but it’s fluffy and kinda steamy toward the end, hopefully it should tide you over until I can get a chance to write the next chapter :) enjoy.

Kara was worried about Lena. 

Besides the small amount of time she spent in the med bay giving Lena her blood, she hardly saw the pretty brunette in days. Nia had informed her that Lena was barely eating and she was up all night and if she was returning to their shared room to rest, Kara was unaware. Alex had given Kara some small duties like taking inventory and working on the out of commission DEO truck which was once James’ job. As much as Kara wanted to see Lena, she didn’t really have the time. 

Nia had found Kara in the hallway heading toward the basement where the truck was and called her name. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Kara asked, the concerned look on Nia’s face. 

“It’s Lena, she’s still not eating. She’s driving herself insane in that lab. She won’t listen to me and...I mean, not to be offensive but I don’t think she’s washed in a few days.” Kara frowned and pushed passed Nia as she turned back the other way. Nia followed her quickly as she stormed her way back upstairs to the corridor leading to the main floor. “What are you going to do, Kara?” 

Kara didn’t reply. Her ribs ached from the speed she took to get to their shared room. When she arrived she pulled open Lena’s makeshift wardrobe and grabbed the first pair of pants and shirt that she found, she grabbed Lena’s towel from the back of the door and stormed out to the bathroom. She piled everything on the vanity and then made her way back out to the med bay where she knew the brunette was holed up. 

When she arrived at the med bay she watched through the glass for a moment. Lena was pacing slightly with her notebook in her hand, her pen was clenched in her teeth. Kara shook her head, she dug around in her pocket for a moment and found what she was looking for. A small key, the one Lena kept on her nightstand. The key to the med bay, there were only two in existence. Alex had one and Lena had one. 

Kara entered the room and Lena didn’t even notice her. She waited and waited but Lena continued to stare at her notebook and pace. All of a sudden Kara grabbed the notebook and all but slapped it down on the counter, she then pulled the pen from Lena’s mouth and placed it more gently down on top of the book. 

“Wha-“ Lena went to protest but then Kara took hold of her wrist and tugged her, pulling her out of the room. She stopped her in the corridor and turned back to the door, locking it with the key and putting back in her pocket. 

“Kara, What are you doing? I was working!” Kara turned back to her and took hold of her wrist again, she didn’t say a word as she pulled Lena down the hall toward the bathroom. “Kara, I’m serious! What are you doing? You’re scaring me.” This didn’t deter Kara at all, she was determined to make Lena look after herself. Kara practically kicked open the bathroom door and gently coaxed Lena inside. 

“Shower and then meet me in J’onn’s garden in half an hour,” Kara said sternly. Lena wasn’t one to be pushed around but it was for her own good. Kara left, closing the door before Lena could even reply and made her way toward the kitchen. 

Nia wasn’t there when she entered, which was fine with her. She dug around in the pantry, looking for anything that would be hearty enough to put some nutrients back into Lena. She heated up two cans of minestrone soup and thanks to J’onn’s garden, she had fresh coriander and garlic to enhance it. She stopped by the storeroom and pulled two spare wool blankets then made her way upstairs toward the roof. 

The sun was bright. It was the first time Kara had been outside in far over a week. It made her body warm and tingly, almost missing her daily adventures into the city. She set out the blankets on the ground between the garden beds, settling their soup bowls on the side of the garden bed and then pouring two cups of water from the water bottle she took from the storeroom along with the blankets. It wasn’t much longer until she heard the door to the roof open. 

“Hi,” Lena said shyly, she took a seat next to Kara on the blanket. “Uh, thank you.” 

“You feeling okay?” Lena nodded and sighed. 

“I am now. Just, hungry.” Kara could tell that Lena felt a little embarrassed. She figured that Lena hadn’t had anyone in her life before to look after her and pull her out of her own head before she was too far gone. Kara passed a bowl of rapidly cooling soup to Lena, she took it gratefully. 

“I know you’re determined to fix this Lena, but you’ll be no good to us if you starve to death,” Kara said, taking a spoonful of her own lunch. 

“I’m sorry. I can get pretty stuck when I’m focused.” Lena explained. “I’m just a little lost. I can’t find-“ 

“Stop. No talking about work. From this moment on, we are officially on a date. We have to talk about date stuff.” Lena chuckled slightly but conceded to Kara’s rule. 

“Okay, What is considered date stuff?” 

“Uhm, what’s your favourite colour?” Lena laughed again and thought for a moment, taking another spoonful of soup. 

“Red. Cats or dogs?” 

“Oh, that’s easy. Dogs.” They continued on asking mindless questions until their soup was gone. Kara laid back on the blanket and rubbed her stomach slightly. Lena was silent for a while and then she joined her. 

“What was it like growing up with Alex?” Kara turned her head to look at Lena, she had her eyes closed and the rise and fall of her chest as she absorbed the sunshine was slow. 

“It was hard, in the beginning, she didn’t like me but as time went on she warmed up to me. I’d never had a sister before her, so it took some getting used to. It was fun for the most part. It’s like having your best friend at your house all the time.” 

“I grew up with an older brother who really didn’t want anything to do with a little sister. Maybe if I had a sister I would find it easier to make friends.” Kara turned her head and gave Lena a small smile. 

“I think you’re doing just fine.” Lena smiled back but it didn’t reach her eyes. There was a long silence before Lena spoke again. 

“I forgot how nice outside can be. I never did enjoy the outdoors but now it seems I took so much for granted.” Kara couldn’t help a burst of laughter. “What’s so funny?” Lena asked, confused at kara’s sudden outburst. 

“It’s just that, we are lying on the roof of an abandoned government agency, in the middle of the literal apocalypse, on a date and I think it finally just hit me how ridiculous and scary life is now.” Kara sat up and Lena followed. “I mean, shit, we took everything for granted and we may never get it back but there’s always going to be a hole somewhere.” 

“What do you mean?”

“There’s always going to be that one thing you can never have again. Hot dogs, ice cream, honey, cheese. There’s always going to be a hole you want to fill, a craving to satisfy because we were all spoiled for choice and now the choice has been taken away. There’s always going to be a hole.” Kara looked sad but she seemed to have accepted her own realisation. 

“I’m sorry,” Lena said

“What are you sorry for?” 

“I took your choices away.” Kara shook her head and scooted closer to Lena on the blanket so that her knees were touching Lena’s as they sat cross-legged. Kara cupped Lena’s face and stared deep into her eyes. 

“You have to stop that. You aren’t to blame for any of this, Lena. Did you know that this was going to happen when you and your team made that vaccine? Did you purposely make that vaccine with the intention to hurt people?” Lena shook her head. 

“No.” Kara then nodded precisely. 

“Exactly. Stop blaming yourself. You’re the only one who does.” Lena went to protest but Kara’s thumb stroked along her cheekbone and it made her skin tingle. Kara’s lips looked so kissable at that moment, soft, pink and pillowy. Lena was close enough that she could see the golden-green flecks in Kara’s blue eyes and she could see each beautiful eyelash that bounced as Kara blinked. Kara’s voice was soft, just above a whisper. “I’m going to kiss you now.” 

When Kara’s lips pressed to hers, her heart stopped, it stuttered and then started back up all in one go. She couldn’t feel her fingers or toes and it felt like someone was setting off fireworks inside her stomach. Kara’s lips were as soft as they looked and when her tongue touched her top lip, Lena couldn’t control her own hand as they weaved themselves into Kara’s golden waves. She tasted sweet too, like hard candy or those squishy blueberry cloud candies that were covered in sugar. 

As they pulled away from each other Lena couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes. She wanted to revel in the memory of Kara’s lips and hands on her. When she finally did open her eyes, the sun was shining bright behind Kara, like a halo above this near-perfect woman. 

“You’re so beautiful.” She didn’t mean to say it out loud but the rosy colour that formed on Kara’s cheeks and the goofy, nervous grin that appeared made it all worth it. Kara kissed her again, softer and slower than before as if she was savouring it as if she never wanted it to stop. Lena would forget all about the world and stay up on that roof and kiss Kara for the rest of her life if she could. 

“How’s that for a first date kiss, huh?” Kara said softly as she leaned her forehead against Lena’s. Lena chuckled lightly, feeling giddy from their kisses. “We should probably go back in...”

“Not yet. Just a few more minutes.” Kara agreed and laid back down on the blanket, pulling Lena with her. They settled with Lena pressed up against Kara’s side, both of them watching the sun start to descend behind the buildings. Lena didn’t realise how long they had actually been up there for, hours. She let herself panic about time for a moment but then Kara’s fingers stroked the back of her shoulder and all thoughts of the cure disappeared. 

The sun had gone all the way down passed the skyline when Kara decided it was time to go in, that and the soft snores that were coming from Lena who had tucked herself into Kara’s side and had drifted off to sleep. 

As much as she knew Lena needed the rest, sleeping on a concrete floor outside probably wasn’t the best rest a person could have, she gently woke her and coaxed her inside. Kara made sure to bypass the med bay and take Lena straight down to their shared room. 

“You don’t have to tuck me in, it’s still early,” Lena said from her position on her bed. Kara just smiled. 

“I think you need as much rest as you can get tonight.” Kara began to move away but Lena grabbed her hand before she got too far. 

“Will you...Uhm, stay with me?” Kara froze for a moment and her heart raced before she made the quickest decision she ever made. She climbed over Lena’s body and tucked herself in close behind the brunette, Lena still had hold of her arm and pulled it over her side, tucking it close to her body. “You’re so warm.” 

Kara blushes again. She let her fingers wander a little, feeling the plush fabric of Lena’s sweater, the softness of Lena’s body pressed against her, there was a static in the air like a tension that she couldn’t put her finger on until Lena turned in her arms and kissed the underside of Kara’s jaw. That’s when she knew exactly what that tension was. Kara swallowed the lump in her throat and hoped that Lena couldn’t feel the thumping of her heart. 

Lena was bold. Her hands tucked themselves under the hem of the back of Kara’s shirt, trailing her fingertips along Kara’s lower back making goosebumps form all over the blonde's body. Kara took a deep unsteady breath when Lena’s tongue found her pulse. 

“Lena..” Lena didn’t respond, she continued her wonderful assault on Kara’s neck. She let her hands wander now. On of them stationed on Lena’s curvaceous hip and the other was cupped to the back of her head. 

“You taste so good.” That was Kara’s turning point, she leaned back to stared into Lena’s eyes in the almost dark of their room. Kara’s mouth crashed down into Lena’s, it was heavy and frantic. Lena’s teeth pulled at her lips and her tongue was the softest and hottest thing she had ever experienced. Oh yeah, this was happening.


End file.
